Dance With Me
by JustMadman
Summary: 2 dancers meeting, and how this has changed their lives. Nanofate, AU. I don't own MGLN!
1. Prologue

Hello! It's been a while. :) I'm kind of deprived of breaking now, and I can't seem to get it off my mind, so.. I decided to write about it! I'd like to thank CrazyLikeAnko for beta-reading this for me, and you fellow readers out there for reading this. Well.. Enjoy! And Review! Critics are welcome! :)

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Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute! What was THAT all about?

That… was just weird. Did I hear her right?

Alright, let's backtrack to the start of the day, and see if I missed anything. Let's find out what's going on.

Today's Friday. I got out of bed, Chrono-san – no, no, no, that's not right - Chrono-onii-san has left for school, Lindy-okaa-san made me breakfast. As soon as I finished breakfast, I left the house to meet the gang for practice. I don't think I saw her during practice, so moving on…

Lunch at Wendas' Fast Food… Boy that was good. It's been a while since I ate there. Still don't recall seeing her.

Now that I think about it, a blue-eyed brunette isn't very common, is it? _Especially a beauty like her._ Wait, did I just think that? Moving on..! What did I do after lunch today?

Hmmm… Oh yeah, I was wandering around town again. And next thing I knew, I was at my usual spot by the park. That nice old shelter near the bridge. Yep, my favorite spot for dancing. Nice scenery, shelter, and a smooth floor. Perfect for dancing, perfect for sleeping, perfect for practically anything I need to do. My third home… Or fourth. Whatever.

Yep, that's the only time I've seen her. After the rain stopped, the crowd was gone, as usual, tips were thrown, and… There she was. Oh, her blushing face was so cute; I just wanted to pinch her cheeks! No, wait. No, Fate. You've just met her. Yes, you shouldn't go around pinching random girls' cheeks. Be civilized! Right… Where was I? Hmm, she said she was lost, and I decided to walk her home. Well, maybe I just wanted to avoid going home. It's become a habit already, I guess.

She seems like a really quiet girl; a really nice girl, for complimenting me. And really brave to be straightforward about it. Aww, she's blushing again! How cute! Alright, flashback over, I can conclude I have never met this girl before in my entire life. We didn't even know each other's names!

"Dance for me?"


	2. Chapter 1 Dance For Me?

Alright, Chapter 1's finally up! :) I'm really surprised by the number of readers and reviews. And I'd really really like to thank you guys for the story/author alerts/favorites and reviews. Each and everyone of them made my day, really. To be honest, I had Chapter 1 done about a week ago already, but... I've been busy so I never had the time to upload it. Chapter 2 and 3's done already too. All that's left is beta-reading. Again, thank you for reading, enjoy and review! :D

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"Alright, that's all for today, pack up, guys. Remember to go home and practice! I don't want you to come back on Monday all sloppy and forgetting your routines!" Gil Graham clapped his hands, announcing the end of rehearsal.

Sitting on a bench near the stage watching a recorded video of her rehearsal, a brunette with her hair tied to a side-bun wiped off the sweat blurring her view, as she took another sip to quench her thirst.

Earphones in her ears, she listened intently to follow every count. Sapphire eyes were glued to the video camera's screen as it replayed her performance of the day, making sure she never made a single mistake.

Too engrossed in the video, she didn't notice an old man walking behind her, jumping when she felt a rough hand patting her shoulder. She turned around, to see her principal, and blushed at her rude reaction.

"Thank you for your hard work. You're improving at a really fast rate, I can tell! Today was really well done. You seem really tense, want to talk about it?"

Blushing at the compliment, Nanoha laughed, "Nyahaha, I'm just a little tired. I've been under a lot of pressure lately. That's all." Glancing at the big clock at the back of the rehearsal hall, Nanoha hurriedly packed her stuff and ran out of the hall. "Thank you for today too, Graham-sensei!"

Just as she left the hall, Graham replied, "Oh, Nanoha. It might hurt you to tell you this, but I'd really hope you can improve from it; your dancing lacks... Life."

Stunned, the brunette stood by the door at a loss of words. Eyes on the ground, her bun fell to her side-ponytail. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind.

It was March already and her recital was the coming June. And she wasn't good enough. Not. Good. Enough. Need. To. Improve. More. How can she improve? She was already the top student of St. Hilde Academy of Arts, was she not good enough? Who could help her? Graham said her dancing needed life. What did he mean by that? What is life, anyways? All these thoughts raced on and on as if on track, running in circles, leading her nowhere. Lost, without any solutions, stuck in square one.

It wasn't until drops of water fell onto her that Nanoha snapped out of her thoughts. Looking around, she realized she wasn't on her usual route home, but somewhere isolated. "I must've made a wrong turn somewhere… Now where am I? Mou, what a bad day…" She pouted as she ran to a shelter.

Fishing out her phone to check her exact location, she heard applause and a lot of splashing noises. Curious, she left her phone in her pocket and noticed a crowd. Digging her way to the front of her crowd, she tripped over a foot and fell to the ground. Looking up, the sight that greeted her left her speechless.

There, before her, stood an angel, dancing in the rain.

_This girl... What is she doing? What kind of dance is this? Popping? Locking? Breakdancing? No, it seems to be a mixture of everything. She's free styling. How could someone free style, without any routine, dance with so much grace?_ Nanoha thought.

Every move seemed to kill the music, hitting the beat accurately. The way she spun in the air and landed in a split, bouncing back up to spin into a pose. How she fell to the ground, flipping herself and pushing herself into a one-handed handstand before kissing the crowd as she spun on it; and how she flipped herself back onto her feet exactly when the music ended and took a bow.

Everything seemed so perfect. It was as if the music was played to follow her movements. The rain stopped, and the crowd dispersed. Nanoha realized she was the only one left and the angel before her was already packing up to leave. Despite the performance ending, Nanoha couldn't help but stay to watch the angel pack her stuff.

As she turned around, her eyes were immediately captured by that pair of beautiful burgundy eyes. Those wine-red eyes that shone so brightly yet looked so dull. It was as if looking at a pretty zombie. Her long blonde hair glistened in the streetlights. Truly, a piece of art made by god, a beauty.

_But why? Why does she look so… dead, so sad? She was dancing with so much emotion, so much life. And now, it's like a switch in her turned off her heart and she's totally , maybe THAT's what Graham-sensei meant by life! _

"Uhmm… Can I help you, miss? I haven't seen you around before; you're probably not from around here, are you? What's a pretty princess like you doing all the way here in the slums?" The blonde's melodic voice snapped her out of her reveries.

"Etto…" Nanoha blushed at the compliment.

"Oh come on, don't be shy!" The blonde smiled, and spread her arms out after picking up her bag, to show that she was a safe person.

"I'm... Lost." Nanoha's face was as red as a tomato now. Embarrassed by her confession, she shut her eyes tightly, faced the ground and shuffled her feet, expecting the blonde to laugh.

After a moment of silence, the brunette slowly opened her eyes to peek at the blonde. There she stood, just waiting. "Well, let's take you home then, princess. Where do you live?" She smiled.

_Why, is it that even when you're smiling, you still look so dead? _Nanoha pondered.

After telling the blonde her address, the blonde decided to walk her home. Coincidentally, she lived nearby, about a 10 minute's walk away. The two of them walked side by side in an awkward silence… Or at least to Nanoha, it was. The blonde seemed to be enjoying the silence, until someone broke it.

"I was watching you just now. You were beautiful." Nanoha confessed, all blood rushing to her head again.

The blonde turned to look at the brunette, unable to respond to the compliment, she turned to watch her feet to cover her eyes as she walked and whispered, "Thank you."

"Dance for me?"


	3. Chapter 2 Signs

Hello! :)

Here's chapter 2. I was told my chapter's too short, and yes, I agree. Unfortunately, this one's short as well. I'm so sorry about it, I'll work on that. Unfortunately, I'm not used to writing long essays. It's been a habit for me to keep things short, actually. DX And since work, exam and assignments have kept me busy almost this whole week, I haven't had the time to write anything, so chapter 3 is going to take a while. I'm going to rewrite it. Badly written. :/ So.. Yep, enjoy and review please! Thank you! :)

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"Dance for me?"

…

There was an awkward silence before Nanoha realized she just blurted out something way out of line. There was nothing wrong with asking someone to dance. What's wrong was, first of all, that they just met. Second of all, it sounded demanding. It was as if she was expecting her to comply. Well, obviously she didn't realize that she was just overreacting from the second "wrong".

Fate merely stood there, speechless. It seemed like she attempted to speak a couple of times, but nothing came out. Not a word, not a sound. She just didn't know how to react.

_How's one supposed to react to that? Out of nowhere? Dude, I mean, sure, I would. But it's just, weird. We've just met!_

A minute or two passed then ten or fifteen. Or at least it felt so. But truth is, only about thirty seconds passed. Nanoha was sweating nervously now. Struggling to keep her smile, albeit an awkward one, one her face, she eventually gave up. Turning to face the blonde angel, she bowed and apologized, "I'm so sorry, that must've been really awkward. I just—"

Before she could complete her sentence, two long slender fingers pressed onto her lips. Sapphire eyes traced those fingers to their origins, and up to the face of their owner, in hopes of seeing those beautiful burgundy eyes again. A really wide smile spread across her face, eyes squinting a little, allowing less sunlight to be reflected from them. _A shame, really._

"Look, we're here! And chillax. No problem. I'll dance for you, just meet me at the same place, same time tomorrow. I'll always be there!" Fate winked at her. "Oh, look. I'm so sorry, I gotta run. See ya!"

Before Nanoha could register anything into her head or respond to Fate's enthusiastic reply, the blonde already had already turned her back to her, and was running home.

Looking up to the sky, the crows were cawing as they flew around in random directions and the sun was slowly edging its way to its hiding place. Stars were slowly waking up one by one.

_Well… That went well. Unexpectedly. Oh, wait! I forgot to ask her for her name!_

Facepalming herself, the brunette decided to leave her thoughts till tomorrow as she entered the house.

"I'm home~" She sighed, knowing full well nobody would reply. After climbing the stairs and finding her room, she tossed her bag onto the bed and she walked to the balcony of her room. Leaning on the railings, she heaved a deep sigh, and looked up into the sky.

_The moon's really pretty tonight. And the stars seem to be shining brighter than usual too. I wonder if she's enjoying the view too…_

Taking off her shoes after entering the house had always been a weird custom in Fate's opinion. To her, it was like eating with chopsticks. Both were weird, but nevertheless, she learned to adapt to habits.

"I'm home! Is dinner ready ye—Ommfph!" Upon arriving home late, she was tackled by her pet dog, Arf, licking her face like no tomorrow.

"Arf!" Fate giggled, as she pushed with all her might to get the dog off her. The thought of how much effort was needed to push Arf reminded her of how small this "puppy" used to be just years ago, when she had just arrived in Japan…

It was snowing back then, and this reddish-orange furry little thing had just been shivering by a tree, struggling to keep itself warm in a bush. Unable to deny its cuteness, Fate couldn't resist picking it up and slot it into the extra space in her jacket. Enjoying the warmth, the wolf-looking dog had snuggled happily, nuzzling its nose against Fate's chest. She was so small back then! Now look at this beauty! Big, strong, and heavier even than its owner!

"Welcome home, Fate-chan." Looking up, Fate smiled at her adoptive mother, Lindy. "Have you eaten dinner?" As if on cue, Fate's stomach growled, causing the blonde to blush badly. "Well, I'll take that as a no. Come on, then, we're about to start." Lindy smiled, as she lead them to the dining room.

Dinner was really quiet and ended really quickly. Fate then took a bath and went to her room. After making sure her door was properly closed, she drowned the entire room in music, playing her iPod songs in shuffle mode. _Alright, now that I've finally got peace and quiet, think, Fate, think. You've never actually "Danced for someone" before, but a routine shouldn't be that hard!_

Sitting by the table facing her window, Fate looked up and realized something… _Those blue eyes… look just like the sky… I wonder if she too is looking at it right now._

Realizing her short attention span had gotten the best of her again, Fate slapped her cheeks before closing her eyes. _Alright, no more side-tracking. A routine, a routine, a routine._ She chanted in hopes of figuring one out. Sadly… It did not help at all… Not. One. Bit.

The next morning came really quickly, for Nanoha that is. Since it was a weekend, there was no school so she spent her morning helping her mother out with the bakery's morning rush, and her afternoon practicing her routine. Time pretty much flew by for her.

Before she knew it, it was already 4 o' clock. Recalling her last-minute "appointment" with the angel she met just yesterday, the brunette quickly dressed up, and headed to the park. On her way there she realized she had let her hair down! She never let her hair down unless on special occasions…

_That's weird. How did I forget? Is this a sign?_

Deciding to leave it be, she ran excitedly to the park, hoping to see that blonde again.

As for Fate, it didn't seem to be the case. Unfortunately for Fate, her inability to focus had kept her up all night, thinking about the most random things. The moon, her attempt on a routine, the iPod playing a song she disliked, routine, the time, routine, and whatever else available to distract her at that point in time. Exhausted from her previous day's activities and lack of sleep, the blonde trudged her way to the dining room for breakfast.

"Morning, Fate-chan! Slept well last night?" Lindy hummed, noticing her daughter entering the dining room from the kitchen.

"Mo-yawn-rning Kaa-san. Nope, I was up all night thinking. But don't worry though, a little caffeine and I'll be alright." The blonde's response made Lindy frown a little, but she was glad Fate seemed to have opened up to her. In fact, this was the first time Fate's called her "Kaa-san". That fact made her glow with pride. Truth is due to fatigue, her fear towards her mother had been ignored, and Fate gave herself in to informalities. The blonde attempted to rub sleep off her eyes but to no avail, considering she did not sleep a wink.

After breakfast, Fate tried her best to go on with her daily rituals. Bathe, leave the house, meet the gang, practice, lunch, and then back to the park. It seemed like dancing was her everything. Wake up, eat, dance, eat, dance, eat, and sleep. And then repeat.

Upon arriving at her spot again, Fate started dancing as usual, freestyling. Even after a whole night of thinking hard, she couldn't come up with a routine, so she decided to let it go.

_Bah, she was probably kidding about it anyways. Why was I so bothered about it? I'll probably never see her again. I mean, look at me. Who'd want me?_

Snapping out of her thoughts, Fate focused on her dancing, trying to make sure every move was perfect. Swift, precise, and sharp. However, her mind, seemingly too tired to even help her focus in dancing today, brought her eyes to the crowd she was gathering, searching. Searching for a certain someone in the crowd. This caused her to miss a beat, almost tripping on her footwork. Realizing her blunder, she quickly recovered. Deciding that her mind was too weak to keep in control, she gave in to her body, allowing herself to move to her heart's content in any way it felt.

Nanoha had just arrived at the shelter. She had noticed the blonde had started dancing, and didn't seem be aware of her presence. Nanoha held onto a pillar to catch her breath from all the running. Before she knew it, a crowd had gathered, and her view of the dancer was blocked by the crowd. The auburn haired girl squeezed her way to the front again, in hopes of getting the best view like yesterday, but to no avail. Fortunately though, she managed to catch a glimpse of Fate "crawling" on the floor, and then spinning back up from what looked like a sitting position. And during that spin, their eyes met. It was just a brief moment, but it felt like forever. Blue eyed gaze seem to fall into a trance, as the blonde strutted over to her. Her heart skipped a beat.

_What..?_

Upon recovering, Fate danced towards the brunette, pulling her out from the crowd. Taking off her cap she made a bow. Her long silky hair fell down, with a couple of strands defying gravity, reflecting the sunlight. It was blinding. Out of nowhere, she pulled out a rose, knelt down and gave it to said brunette.

A blush crept up onto the brunette's face.

_First, my ribbon. Next, heart. Now, my face? What's wrong with me today? Mou._

Hearts melting at the "warm display of affection", the crowd "Aww"-ed, and applause drowned out the music. It was ok at first, but suddenly, the crowd, thinking it was a couple's event, started chanting "Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!".

Normally, Fate would've noticed the blush. She would've smirked. She would've initiated a peck on the cheek. But none of that happened.

Unable to tolerate the loud chanting, Fate's head started aching. Feeling as if her head was shrinking, compressing her brain; she dropped her cap to the ground to clench onto her throbbing head.

Without a warning, her world turned black.


	4. Chapter 3 What's Your Name?

Hello again. :)

Umm.. It's another really short chapter. A really badly written one too. :/ I tried my best, though, so.. I really hope you enjoy this. It's only about 1000 words, but I promise you readers, the next chapters onward will be longer! :) As usual, critics are welcome!

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Without a warning, her world turned black.

…

The crowd's noise dropped. Realizing there was a real problem and that it was not an act or anything like that, one by one all the presents backed out, leaving Fate and Nanoha alone.

_What's going on, what's going on? What happened to her? Just a moment ago it seemed like she was flirting with me, now she… Fainted? _Nanoha panicked at the sight of the pale and unconscious blonde lying on her lap. Fortunately, she had been able to catch the girl before her head came crashing into the ground. That would've been bad.

At a loss as to what to do next, the brunette sat still, trying to go over all the things that had happened in the past few… Minutes.

_Alright, let's get this straight. You agree to dancing for me, we meet up, you dance, you faint, now I'm stuck. This is… Simply great. What have I gotten myself into…? _Nanoha sighed to herself. Looking at the blonde lying on her, she noticed something. The blonde… Was snoring.

_She's sleeping?_ The brunette giggled at the blonde's snore. _She's cute. Alright, maybe I can let this go. I'll just leave as soon as she gets up._

An hour passed.

Another hour passed.

A third hour passed.

Nanoha was getting impatient now. One should applaud her patience though. Normally one would've waited for an hour max! For a stranger, too! Just as she was about to drop the blonde's head onto the floor and leave, she heard the blonde speak.

"Mother, no… No! I'm sorry!" The blonde was trembling. Legs bent, back hunched, she tugged her head down, as if trying to hide away from something. Fate was now curled up like a ball. A shaky one.

Concern washed over the brunette, ditching her idea of leaving the tired girl in the park. Putting into practice what she learned from her mother's caring manners over the years, Nanoha leaned down to kiss the struggling blonde and gently ruffle her hair. "It's going to be alright. You're safe with me."

Shocked from the sudden gentleness and warmth washing over her, Fate shot up. "Who, wha-Ouch!" Before she could finish her string of questions, foreheads clashed into each other.

The knock was a guarantee that Fate was fully awake by now… Realizing her blunder, she blushed. So hard her face was almost as red as her eyes. "S-s-sorry, I must've scared you." She whispered, apologetically.

"Did I hurt you?" Burgundy eyes examined her on their way up to meet the eyes of whoever she had been sleeping on.

When Fate made eye contact with her 'saviour', "Oh! Hey! It's you, the 'Dance-for-me' girl!" she exclaimed, shocked by the fact that the brunette was still here. Her heart seemed to jump excitedly at the sight of the brunette.

Embarrassed by what has happened in the past few minutes, or so it seemed to her, Fate immediately bowed a full ninety degrees and apologized. "I'm so sorry to have bothered you and that was rude of me!" Her body seemed so tense, still shivering in fear since before, voice cracking a little.

Nanoha simply smiled and replied, "It's ok, I sort of enjoyed the past three hours anyways," ignoring the weird nickname.

The blonde was taken aback by Nanoha's reponse. _Did I hear that right? Three hours? You mean I've been knocked out for three whole hours? That can't be right. Maybe it was the fatigue… But this has never happened to me before…_

In her whole life, the past seventeen years of living, Fate had never fainted for any longer than an hour before. Sure, she had fainted. Due to fatigue, hunger, pain. But never, ever, for three whole hours. What was it that made it possible for her to remain unconscious for so long in this case? Was it the brunette? What is it about her anyways? She's just another girl…

Then it struck her. "Three hours? I've been sleeping and lying on you for three hours? I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

She clasped her hands together and chanted. Upon bringing her hands up to her face to show her sincerity in apologizing, she noticed something. It was 8pm. She looked up. The sun had already set. The sky was already dark blue, resembling the night before, reminding her of those blue eyes staring at her. Noticing the big picture now, she lifted Nanoha to piggyback her.

"You're probably late for your curfew or dinner already, aren't you, princess? I'll carry you home. It'll be faster that way." Nanoha yelped at the sudden weight shift.

And before she was even able to ready herself into a more comfortable position, Fate was already moving her feet, on their way home. Before she knew it, the blonde had already arrived at her gates, and was running away to her own home. "See you some time later, princess!" She sang while waving back.

"How about tomorrow, 2pm at the TSAB?" She shouted back.

"Sure!" The blonde replied, while jogging backwards, facing the brunette. Not wanting to lose her pace and hurry home, she turned back and sped up.

_Wait, her name! What's her name?_

"W-wait! Your name?" Nanoha stuttered. It was weird, really. Everything was. She was never nervous about making a new friend. Never scared of stopping bullies. Never afraid of anything. Except for this angel. Just asking for a dance, just asking for her name, seemed so… Difficult.

"They call me Fate!"

Sometime later, in Fate's room…

Lying on her bed reflecting on her unusual day, the blonde fiddled around with her Rubik's cube.

…_Wait, she said TSAB right? THE TSAB?_ Realizing what a small world it is, the blonde dropped a hand to facepalm herself… As well as the cube, falling onto her forehead.

"Ow!" She rubbed her forehead and watch the cube tumble onto the floor, and giggled to herself. "TSAB, huh… Japan sure is small." And with that, the blonde smiled as she entered dreamland.


	5. Chapter 4 Day One

Helloooo again! :)

Again, thanks for reading! It took a while to upload 'cause I was procrastinating. Initial plans was to only upload this when I'm half done with chapter 5, but.. I'm nowhere near. Now that exams and assignments are over, and I've got no work to do... I've been playing with my iPhone. One of the outdated trending games, Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride. OTL I know, I'm really slow. But it's fun! :D

So anyways, here's chapter 4. Slightly longer now. Chapter 5 will probably take a while... Temple run... So yea. Enjoy! :) And review! Thank you!

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_TSAB, huh… Training School of Arts Bureau, Uminari's finest art school, as well as Japan's. It is supposedly famous for its dance courses more than music, therefore, they have the most number of and biggest dance halls to accommodate the great number of dance students there. However, the music students' intake is not to be looked down on either. It is said that most graduates from both dance and music, end up becoming pretty famous artists. Some retired celebrities even come back to teach, so you might run into your idol here or something._

Fate stood by the entrance of the school, taking in the sight before her.

_No kidding, this school IS huge. I can't even see the end of it! I wonder if everyone's like princess. Do the dancers here wear tutus? Teehee. _She giggled to herself at the thought.

Despite only calling Nanoha that nickname a few times, in her mind, the brunette was already labelled as one. It suited her anyways. Those kind warm eyes that reflected the clear blue sky, auburn red hair that matched the colour of the autumn leaves, her kindness and tenderness that allowed her to sleep for three hours, and most importantly, that cute blush that was always on her face. All that was missing was a beautiful dress and a fitting crown over her head.

Speaking of dresses, Fate looked down at herself and frowned. Baggy jeans with a hole where her right knee was, worn out black Nike shoes, a yellow tank top and a black biker jacket just to keep herself warm. To top it off, as usual, her black New Era cap, with a double-layered yellow trianglular design on it, hung sideways over her head. She looked like a delinquent. No wonder the people around her were giving her the looks. That's why she never came to this part of town. She couldn't fit in.

_This is Alicia's place, not mine… Now I can't believe I'm doing this… What are you doing, Fate? _Turning her cap to face frontwards, she pulled it down to cover her eyes, and entered the school.

Thirty minutes have passed, and Fate has not met up with the princess yet. It was fifteen minutes past two already. The blonde was lost. Yes, she came early knowing she wasn't familiar with the place. Yes, despite giving herself an extra fifteen minutes allowance, she was still late. Fate sighed, resignedly, swallowed her pride and decided to resort to ask for directions to the next person she see along the maze-like hallway. Unfortunately, she was treated to an empty, endless looking sight that seemed to lead to nowhere. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and a conversation going on.

"Thank you Graham-sensei for approving my request. She's not here yet, and I know you probably already have a bad impression of her, but trust me, she's really good, and you won't regret it! I know punctuality is something you treasure a lot. When I see her again, I'll let her know."

"No problem, Nanoha. It's your recital. You should've known you were allowed in the first place. I'm really looking forward to meeting your new friend then."

"Nyahahaha~"

_There it was! That melodic voice, that unusual laughter!_ Fate turned around to see two people rather far away walking towards a black door. One of them was her princess, the other was… An old man. Eager to get herself out of this lost situation, she gave chase.

"Wa-wait!" She shouted.

The two Japanese by the doors turned around to see a panting blonde, and gave her a moment to catch her breath and explain what was wrong.

"I'm-I'm-pant- I'm suh-rry I'm lah-pant-te. I got lost. And you didn't tell me where exactly we were supposed to meet either." Fate explained, while still catching her breath.

Concern washed over the brunette at the sight of the tired blonde.

_She must've been wandering around for a long time… How long has she been looking for me?_

Realizing her eyes were stuck onto the tired blonde again, she slapped herself out of her thoughts. "Oh yes, Graham-sensei. This is Fate. She's the one I was talking about. She's not in our school, are you sure it's ok?" She said.

"Oh, Fate, huh. The famous girl that I've been hearing about. Fate Testarossa… Or Harlaown?" Graham-sensei responded while playing with his short white beard as he eyed the blonde.

Attention immediately caught by the two names mentioned, Fate immediately forgot about catching her breath. Standing up straight, she glared into the old man's eyes with hostility. "Who are you?" Those sad burgundy eyes seemed to have transformed into the gates of hell, as if saying, '_Watch your words_'.

"Hohoho! Pardon me, I'm Gil Graham. Principal of TSAB. I've heard a lot about you." Graham laughed out loud, stroking his beard again.

_Oh, he must be the one Lindy-san's been telling me about…_

Flashback to that morning:

The smell of breakfast woke Fate up. After brushing her teeth and getting dressed, she eagerly made her way down to the dining room.

"Morning Chrono, Lindy-san," She cheerfully greeted at the sight of the blue haired boy and his mother. She had gotten enough sleep today, and was rather looking forward to the rest of the day. More awake this time, her respect and fear for the family was back. She apparently still wasn't ready to address them as family.

"Morning," Chrono replied. He didn't care whether or not Fate treated him as an elder brother. All that matter was that he had a new sister, and he loved her. Simple as that.

Eyes focused on his phone, he took another bite out of his sandwich. Noticing that it was already 8, he quickly swallowed the bite and gobbled down the rest of his breakfast. With a big gulp of his remaining orange juice, the rest of his breakfast made a smooth way down before he pecked his family members on the cheeks and leaving the house. "I'm off for school now, bye!"

Whether the teal-haired lady caught it or not, one could not tell. She merely smiled and responded, "Good morning, Fate-chan. You seem to be in a good mood today, did something happen to get so excited?"

To the older lady's surprise, those wine-red eyes were camouflaged by the flushed look Fate had. She giggled to herself. Poor kid was probably still not used to such familiarity yet after missing it for so long. The bowl of cereals suddenly seemed really interesting to the blonde. Shyly, and not trusting her voice, she nodded her head silently attempting to hide her blush.

"Oh by the way, Fate-chan, the school I've enrolled you in starts in three months. The principal's a good friend of mine, so he made an exception for you to join the third years. However, you'll need to go for extra classes to make up for not having attended the first two years. I hope that's ok with you. You haven't gone to school in a while, so do you think you'll be able to adjust to the 'new' environment?" Lindy spoke as she placed a couple of sugar cubes into her cup of tea.

"It's the same school Chrono's going to. So if anything happens, you can always look for him," She added before taking a sip of her tea. She frowned at the lack of sweetness, "Still not enough…" and added more sugar cubes.

Fate simply nodded. _It's not like I have a choice anyways, right…? But then again, she's so different from mother…_

Shaking her head out of her flashback, she looked at Graham again, who was smiling at her. Then a light bulb was lit.

"Oh! You're the friend Lindy-san mentioned!" she whispered. Her eyes widened upon realizing something else. _Which means… This is Chrono's school. And! My school in three months!_

"So... Shall we go in?" Nanoha, who was lost the whole time, interrupted their conversation. It was about time anyway, and they were wasting time standing by the hallway. Chit-chat can wait, for now, practice. The other two simply apologized, dropped the topic and nodded before entering the dance studio.

To say Fate was amazed by the studio was an understatement. When the door to the studio was opened, Fate found herself surrounded by reflections of her. The walls surrounding the room were completely filled with mirrors. Bar handles stuck out on the left side of the room.

_For ballet stuff? Whatever they're for, I don't need them… _Or so she thought…

Looking up, the lighting was perfect. Not too bright to blind the dancers with the mirrors, not too dark either to hide an inch of this room. The empty spots of the ceiling seemed to have speakers to make sure the entire class had the best quality music possible. Taking a few steps into the studio, she realized something. The floor. Was. Simply. Gorgeous. Hardwood flooring, and well polished too. Rough enough to provide the right amount of friction, so that one could dance without any fear of slipping and falling, yet smooth enough to slide around and practice her moves on. It was like heaven on earth for her. The temptation to just start was there, but she held it in.

All of a sudden, a hand waved frantically in front of the blonde, causing her to jump back.

"Hello, Fate-chan?" The brunette looked up to the blonde. Her eyes seemed to be filled with curiosity as to why the blonde was in such a daze today.

_Fate-chan? We're close friends already?_

"Ye-yea? Sorry. I was just getting used to the studio. It's all new to me," she responded, whispering the last part to hide her excitement.

_That's so cute! Getting lost and nervous about her first time coming to a dance studio. _Nanoha giggled to herself.

"Alright, take your time. For now, I need a favour. Could you take a sit by that side, and watch me dance? I need to know your opinions. I need you to point out how I lack something that you have. Or according to Graham-sensei…" Nanoha said, pointing to the left side of the room, as she walked to the right.

After fiddling around with some remote by the wall, she threw her bag aside, and took off her jacket revealing her attire. A partly translucent and partly opaque white dress, cutting across her chest, revealing a bit of cleavage, with glitters all over it. She got into position, and within a few seconds, the music started.

Fate nodded and headed to the corner. Leaning on the bar handles, arms crossed, she faced the brunette and tapped her foot to the beat.

It was slow. The beat was too slow. Not to Fate's liking. Fate preferred songs with faster beats. And this was not fast. Nowhere near fast. But it was still music. This strengthened Fate's urge to dance, but she forced it down, to watch the brunette before her begin her dance.

Running her routine through her head one more time, Nanoha closed her eyes while hugging her knees. Then when her beat came, she began. Sliding from the centre of the "stage", she seemingly tiptoed her way to a corner, and spun around a couple of times. Lifting her leg to form a triangle, she paused when there was a silence, and raised it to her head slowly as the sound of the violin re-entered.

Spinning and twirling, it was beautiful. But it was boring. It seemed like it went on forever to Fate. She held back the urge to yawn. She knew nuts about ballet, how was she supposed to help?

"She's good, right? Look into her eyes, and you'll see what's wrong," Graham, whom she didn't know was standing beside her, said.

She looked at the old man. His eyes were sharp. Despite looking old, he was not one to be taken lightly, probably dedicated his life to arts, he was watching Nanoha with great intensity. Fate merely nodded, and turned to look into Nanoha's eyes, then it came to her. She knew what she could do now. She didn't have to watch anymore.

The blonde had had it. She walked over to a corner of the studio, stared at the remote for a long hard time, before pressing a button. "Ahhh."

The music stopped. Silence filled the dance studio, and all eyes went to Fate. Said blonde turned around to realize everyone was staring at her. She tilted her head to one side, "Hm?"

"… Fate-chan?" This time, the brunette tilted her head as well.

"You've got to stop."

The old man by the bar handles smiled to himself. _Seems like she's got it. She's sharp for someone her age._

Nanoha blankly stared at Fate.

"Your dance. It's too, too, too rigid. It's too fixed. Tell me, uhh…"

"Nanoha. I'm Takamachi Nanoha."

"Oh, yea. -cough- Nanoha. How long have you practiced this… Routine, right?" The blonde recovered, hiding her blunder. She's acting all high and mighty towards someone she didn't even know the name of! She held her hand behind her back to resist facepalming herself.

"Um, a month?" The brunette was fidgeting now. _Did I do such a bad job? Graham-sensei said it was good… _

"Are you tired?"

"You interrupted me halfway- "

"Are you tired?"

"N-no."

"Hmm… Who choreographed your dance?"

"Myself, but a sensei helped me out." The blonde frowned at the reply.

"Alright. That's all I needed. Thanks. I'm no judge, I'm a total nobody when it comes to ballet, so I didn't understand a thing that happened there. But here's what I've gathered so far. First of all, you lack eye contact. It's obvious you practiced a lot and memorized your moves, your routine. Secondly, like I said before, it's too rigid. It lacks life. Energy. Emotions. Feelings. The dance wasn't choreographed by you, so it's not YOUR dance, you get me? It's ok if you don't. It's like story telling. Comparing when you're telling a scripted story and when telling your own story, fiction or non-fiction, which one would you be more comfortable with? Definitely yours, simply because you're more familiar with it. When you're more familiar with something, it is easier to become more confident. With confidence, you can make eye contact with your audience, engage them. It's easier to put feelings into it as well. Hence, giving the story more life. It makes your story more entertaining, more attractive, as if they were actually in the story. People will become more interested to hear about it, people would want to hear more. Last of all, when you dance, give it your all. Only then, can your feelings be expressed."

The brunette still had a blank look on her face. Fate took it that she did not comprehend a thing she just said, so to prove her point… She fiddled around with the remote again, took out her iPod and played a song.

"Watch me." She gave the brunette a determined look, took off her cap, and threw it to her. Then the beat started. This time, it was much faster than Nanoha's song. Nanoha caught the unexpected cap coming her way, and took a few steps back.

With every beat, Fate took a step, bouncing non-stop. This time, she did not fall to the ground, nor did she start crawling. Bouncing and hopping round in a circle, she raised her hands to clap to the beat. Each clap was loud, fast and hard. Each step was fast, yet silent. It was as if she was stomping, but her movements were muted.

After a minute or two of dancing, she turned the music off, and walked up to Nanoha.

"You see the difference? I give my all in my dance. You've seen me dance. I can do more, but I won't. But thing is, even if all I did was the simplest basic moves that even kids can do, I'm tired, I'm perspiring. That's because I gave my all. When you do that, that's when one can tell you're truly expressing yourself. Am I right, Graham-sensei?" The blonde turned to Gil Graham who was silently watching. He was hoping that the blonde would have forgotten his presence, unfortunately not.

_Not only was she able to point all Nanoha's mistakes out, she was also able to demonstrate to prove her point. Although her moves are rough, a bit of unnecessary movements here and there, assuming they're part of her style, she's fast. She's way beyond what I expected. No wonder Lindy enrolled her here, it would've been a waste to register in any other school!_

He smiled. "Yes. Yes, you are."

Finally understanding what the blonde said, Nanoha shyly nodded, "So… To improve, all I need to do is re-choreograph my dance?"

The blonde smiled a Duchene smile, "Yes, that is all."

The brunette thought hard for a moment. _A new routine…? That'll take a while, but it'll be easier to practice anyways._

More confident now, she smiled back, "Mm, thank you! Maybe we should stop today. I've got homework now! Thank you, Fate-chan, thank you, Graham-sensei."

With that said, she packed her stuff, and left with Fate.

"Sorry I didn't know your name. It's the third time we've met and yet I never got your name," Fate apologized while walking home.

_I can't believe it, meeting a hottie like her, and yet, no name no number? Fate, what happened to you? Useless! _The blonde mentally scolded herself. It was unusual for her. Sure, she's not one who speaks much unless necessary, but it's basic courtesy to get someone's name! Ashamed of herself, she hung her head down to avoid the brunette's eyes.

"E-eh? No, it's alright. I never got a chance to tell you anyways," Nanoha responded. She turned to Fate, and realized the blonde had stopped walking. The brunette bent her head down and looked up to meet the blonde's eyes. To her surprise, her ruby-like eyes were on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong?"

Fate immediately shook her head and wiped those water droplets off her eyes.

"N-no, it's nothing." She smiled.

_Why? It's so obvious you're lying, yet you still do. Is it because we barely know each other? Then can we be friends? Wait wait wait. Why am I even so attracted to you?_

In attempt to ease the heavy atmosphere and get to know her new "friend", she came up with a question.

"So what was it about just now with Graham-sensei? Testarossa and Harlaown?"

This time, the response she received was even worse. Fate had stopped walking by her side now. She was a few steps behind. Nanoha stopped her walking and turned around to see what was wrong this time.

"You know what, I just remembered I've got something to do, so I won't be walking you home this time, princess. I'll see you tomorrow, ok? Same place, same time!" The blonde quickly turned around and hurriedly ran off in the opposite direction. Little did she know that her attempt to hide her fallen tears had been an utter failure.

Nanoha wasn't even given time to respond. Before she knew it, the blonde was already out of sight. Damn, she was fast. The brunette frowned… But those frown lines didn't last very long. They gradually disappeared as said girl got lost in her thoughts. Again.

_Fate-chan… Don't keep it in. It hurts to see you being so sad. I don't know why, but it just does. _Clenching her heart, she sighed. _What was it about her, really?_

Hiding behind a wall, the blonde rubbed her eyes hard. Her eyes just wouldn't stop the tears flowing from them. She leaned against the wall and dropped to a squatting position.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" She chanted.

After what seemed like hours, she was eventually able to calm herself down using those breathing exercises she was taught. Wiping away those tears again, she stood up and slapped her face lightly.

_Fuuu-! Today sure is a rough day! So many flashbacks. Hmm, it's still 3.30pm. Guess there's still time to meet the rest._

Moments later, she found herself at the meeting area. Surprisingly, the gang was still there. They seemed to be about to leave for a late lunch, though.

"Hey guys! About to leave without me?" Fate shouted, waving her hands to attract their attention.

"Fate-chan!" A shorter girl hugged her, causing the taller girl to lose balance. Looking up and noticing the dried tears by the side, worry clearly showed on her face as she asked, "… Did something happen?"

Fate merely stood there and stroked the girl's back to ease her worries.

"It's nothing… It's nothing."


	6. Chapter 5 The More the Merrier

Hello again. In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to upload a chapter weekly. But if possible, I'll try to upload them sooner than planned. Just to let you guys know, chapter 6 is going to take a while... To be honest, I have NO idea at all what to write. I've got an idea or two from the reviews, thank you soooo very much, but they'll probably take a while to get done. Although this fic's dance related, I know nothing about dancing at all. Just a bit of breaking, popping and locking, and that's it. Everything else is from google. Man's best friend now. :)

Here's my reply to the reviews:

First of all, I know my chapters are still very short. I'm still working on it, so please be patient! DX And yes, a 3hr nap... Yea, it's a bit exaggerated, huh? But I figured Nanoha would be patient enough to do that. If it's not, oh well, my bad. :P I know this story sounds really like Step-up. Actually, it was Step-up that kinda inspired me to take up dancing as well as write this fic. But don't worry, the story's different. Similar, but it won't end just like in the movie. Hehee. Black Swan, however... I have yet to watch it. I heard its kinda scary, so I plan to when I find a friend who has the time to accompany me. XD Chrono playing the guitar sounds like a really interesting idea. But doesn't seem to suit him. :/ As for tango, I can TRY to write that out and see how it goes, but... I know nuts about tango. So we'll see. :)

Again, thanks for reviewing(please keep it coming), Chapter 5, here we go! :D

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"- noha..! Nanoha!" A finger was flicked.

"Itai!" The brunette flinched before looking up.

"K-kaa-san, what was that for?"

Stern blue eyes stared right back into hers, sending shivers down the slightly shorter brunette's spine. She didn't even dare to raise her hand to rub her head while her older look-a-like was glaring her down. Despite being about three times as old as Nanoha, Momoko still looked relatively young. To Nanoha, it was like looking into a mirror, really.

"You've been staring into space all morning, 'what was that for' you dare ask? Customers are coming, your break's over! Hurry up!" Momoko frowned. Noticing that some customers were waiting, she bowed a little and hurriedly rushed to the kitchen counter.

Peeking out, she told Nanoha, "You won't be able to take over this bakery if you keep slacking!"

Nanoha sighed. It's not that she was slacking, she was just... Busy. Thinking up a new routine was not an easy task. Choreographing dance was never easy. You have to really think hard. How you transit your moves to another, how they suit the song, the meaning behind each move, each song, countless things to consider!

Putting back on her apron, she dragged herself, almost literally, back to the cashier. She sighed again before forcing a smile onto her face.

"Hi, good afternoon, how may I help you today?" She greeted a customer. "Eh-?"

"You know, you're never going to get a boyfriend, or a girlfriend for the matter, with an obviously fake smile like that…"

"Arisa-chan!"

"Yep, that's me." The blonde posed, revealing another girl behind.

"And Suzuka-chan!" The violet haired girl simply smiled.

The brunette resisted the temptation to pounce onto her friends.

"Wow, you guys are surprisingly early. Give me a moment, once I'm done with the lunch rush, I'll get to you. Please, take a seat." Nanoha enthusiastically showed them the way to the VIP seats corner and hurriedly ran back to her cashier to serve the next customer. It didn't take long before most of the customers left, satisfied with their lunch.

The Midoriya café, owned by the matriarch of the Takamachi family, wasn't just any café. It was well known for its pastries, to the point that people from other towns would travel all the way there, to Uminari, just to try it. Every morning, even before the café opens, a queue would already be lining up. However, the lunch rush wasn't as bad. Used to being fast due to the morning rush, Nanoha finished up really quickly. It was only thirty minutes before her shift was over, just enough time for her to walk with her friends to school.

Seeing as there were no customers to serve at the moment, Nanoha quickly grabbed a few buns and poured two cups of coffee, placed them in a tray and served them to the VIP corner.

"On the house!" She grinned.

"Alright, thank you, Nanoha-chan. Ready to go now?" Suzuka asked politely.

"Nope, but just half an hour more to- Okaa-san?" Nanoha replied, unexpectedly interrupted by her mother.

"It's ok, Nanoha. You go ahead, take a break. I'll get your sister to take over from here." Momoko smiled. Nanoha was about to reject the idea, she didn't want to bother her sister with her shift just because of her friends, it was her duty to help out, and she planned to abide by it. Opening her mouth, she found a red bean bun stuffed in it.

"Go on, you seem to have stuff on your mind. And you haven't eaten all morning either. I'll see you later during dinner. Have fun, kids." The older brunette smiled before re-entering the kitchen.

Stunned, the younger one stood there in a daze. _Did okaa-san just support me being in this school?_

Realizing what her mother had just done, a smile crept up her face unconsciously. She could almost jump for joy now! It might have taken her years, but finally, her mother has approved her decision in pursuing her dream. To dance. Not to succeed this café, but to dance.

"So… Ready to go?" Arisa was bored now. Slouching and leaning her head on one hand, she was holding the last bit of her free lunch in the other. Green eyes looked dully into Nanoha's. Rude, yet typical of her… Which earned her a kick under the table. "Ow! What was that-ow! Nothing." Embarassed of her outburst, she blushed and glared at Suzuka, who smiled oh-so-innocently. Too innocently, I dare say.

Arisa Bannings, multi-millionaire heiress, daughter of Japan's top celebrities. After finally being able to escape the media, her parents settled down in Uminari. Having such parents, her career choice had already been fixed since birth; arts. Which form of art? Music. Due to her outspoken nature, the green-eyed blonde knew she could never deal with all the fame that would come with her career, so she took up musical instruments, aiming to be a musician that excels in all sorts of music. Since famous musicians nowadays aren't as popular as pop stars, she figured she wouldn't have to deal with all fans like others did. For her recital, she plans to create her own piece by combining all the pieces she played, with all the different instruments. Hence, taking up music-editing, and DJing as well.

Suzuka Tsukimura. A quiet, gentle and caring girl. Another multi-millionaire heiress. Her parents and sister, were famous musicians, who were known for writing their own pieces. However, Suzuka held no interest in musical instruments. Despite being quiet, she had a beautiful voice, which she enjoyed making full use of. Despite being surprisingly different from her family, they were supportive of whatever she wanted for her future nonetheless. Initially, Suzuka planned to take up dancing as well, with Nanoha, but physical abilities were never her forte, so she settled with singing, since it was an easy course to go through. Who knows, she might end up taking singing as a career? As for her recital, accompanied by Arisa's violin, she planned to perform her own written song, "Carry on".

The three of them go back a long way, to kindergarten.

Arisa's and Suzuka's parents were regular customers of the Midoriya café. They would often head there just to relax, usually on weekends, and let their children play in the nearby playground. Then they'd sit by the window and watch over their children, to let them know they're around, and that they're safe.

Nanoha, whose parents were always busy with the café, would always be left by the playground as well. She would be there every single day after school, so she knew practically everyone in the playground. When the two children first came, they did not get along. Not at all. Whenever Suzuka found a spot to play, another child would snatch her spot, leaving her without a place in the playground. Arisa, for some reason, always seemed to notice Suzuka's problem and confronted her.

"What are you doing? Why don't you fight back?" She shouted at Suzuka.

The violet haired girl, intimidated by the loud voice, turned her head to avoid eye contact. And that pissed Arisa off even more.

"Look at me!" She snatched Suzuka's toy and threw it to the ground. "The playground's a place for everyone to play, including you. If someone takes that right from you, fight back!"

Still, that did not gain her a response from Suzuka. Not even a word. However, she did not notice the tears that were spilling from her eyes. Unable to tolerate being ignored, the blonde raised her hand, and swung it down to meet the other girl's cheek.

-Pow!-

When Suzuka did not feel anything making contact with her face, she slowly looked up. In Arisa's place, stood Nanoha. And the blonde was… on the ground. One hand held onto her cheek.

"What do you think you're doing? Can't you see she was crying?" the tiny brunette scolded Arisa.

The blonde was on the verge of tears now. But, to avenge her damaged pride, she retaliated by pouncing on the other girl.

Oblivious to their surroundings, the two girls rolled around on the ground, while a crowd had gathered to watch the fight, including their parents. They were about to intervene but they were stopped by Suzuka's mother. She knew her daughter would do something about it. Suzuka, when pushed too far or if the right buttons were pressed, would always put an end to things. Like how she witnessed her handling her cats.

Tsukimura Jr. picked up her toy, passed it to her mother and walked up to the blonde and brunette. She picked the two of them up from the ground, gaining their attention, then slammed her fists on their heads.

"Would the two of you stop fighting? A playground is for us to play in, not to fight!" she scolded them. What she did shocked everyone around. Who would've thought the 'bullied' would become the mediator? "Now I want you two to shake hands and apologize to each other. Now." Hands on her hips, she glared at them like a mother would.

The two, afraid of receiving another bonk to their heads, reluctantly shook hands. As if it was the hardest thing to say in the world, they looked in opposite directions from each other, gritted their teeth and mumbled a "… Sorry" and immediately let go.

"Be sincere about it!" Apparently, a handshake and apology wasn't enough, sincerity was important as well.

Again, they held each others' hands, tightly this time, and glared at each other. "Sorry!" and hurriedly let go to attend to their tightly squeezed hands.

When accidentally making eye contact with each other, they immediately turned away, crossing their arms, with a "Hmph!", which then started another fight.

"What, my presence upset you?" Arisa glared at Nanoha.

"Sort of, more importantly, the others in the playground as well." Eyes shut, she stuck out her tongue.

"Well too bad, you just gotta deal with it." Arisa mirrored the expression.

Unable to come up with a counter-argument, this time, the brunette jumped the blonde. Here we go again, Suzuka facepalmed.

The whole scene was comical, really… Until it became a daily habit. For a week or two, those two would fight, and Suzuka would end up being the mediator, even though she was the cause of it.

However, really fortunately, the fights gradually subsided. The three girls managed to overcome their differences and became friends. Inseparable ever since. Especially Arisa and Suzuka. Recently, they seemed to have become closer than usual. More than just friends, or even best friends, maybe.

As the three girls made their way to school, they took this time to catch up. Ever since they started preparing for their recitals, they hadn't had enough time to just meet up for a chat.

"So… Nanoha, I heard you've decided to get a partner for your dance after all?" Arisa enquired.

"Mm… Initially I didn't want to, since no one in school was good enough, but this girl… She's just amazing. I dare say, she's even better than me." Nanoha thought deeply before responding.

"What about Yuuno, isn't he good? He auditioned to be your partner right?" Arisa smirked.

Yuuno, a blonde male with green eyes, a classmate of Nanoha's for the past three years. Top scholar, popular with girls, and teachers' pet. They met at the auditions for TSAB, and became friends quickly. Not long after they became friends Nanoha, or rather her friends, realized that Yuuno wanted more than just friendship from the dense brunette. Despite the support from Suzuka and Arisa, three long years had passed and yet there was still no progress. Eventually, he lost his supporters. Unfortunately, to Nanoha Yuuno was just a friend, and only just a friend. Not even close to becoming a partner. They were classmates, and no more. Despite being friendzoned, the blonde never gave up.

"Urgh, Yuuno-kun's good. But I can't seem to imagine him and me dancing together. It feels… Awkward." Nanoha winced in what seemed like disgust.

"I'm starting to question your sexuality here now. You got a dance partner, which is new. She's a girl. And you're disgusted by Yuuno. Nanoha, is your ruler metal or curved?"

"Huh?" Apparently, the brunette did not get the joke, causing Suzuka to giggle to herself.

"She means are you straight, or lesbian?" The quiet girl finally decided to join in.

"N-n-nooo! I'm not lesbian! …Though I'm not against LGBT…" she retorted, whispering the last part just in case her friends were… They never said anything about their relationship. Although it was highly likely and so obvious, Nanoha was not one to make assumptions, "Maybe. Maybe I am, but I don't know yet. I mean, come on guys, you've known me almost my whole life now. I've never had a crush on anyone. Even I'm starting to think I'm abnormal. And really, Fate-chan's amazing… You guys should've seen her."

"But according to you… A girl is okay, -And wow, Fate-CHAN. You guys are already close? - but school's famous Yuuno-kun is awkward. To other girls, it's an honour to dance with him, you know that? No offence, but I'm starting to get the impression you have gay tendencies here." Again, that earned Arisa a nudge to the ribs, and a glare telling her "Shut. Up. Now. Or else." from Suzuka. This went unnoticed by Nanoha, though. Oblivious as always.

"Fate-chan."

"Hmm?"

"Fate-chan."

"Nanoha, I know your new dancing friend is Fate already, you're seeing her soon. Quit missing her alr- Ow!" Arisa got the back of the head smacked.

"No, I mean that's Fate-chan!" The Nanoha ran up to the said blonde by a tree to escape immediately after her hand hit Arisa's head.

_Oh, she has company._

The sight of a group of people with Fate caused the brunette to slow down, but approach her, nonetheless.

"Hi F-"

Before Nanoha could finish her greeting, she was shrugged off. Fate jumped into the centre of a circle and began her dance, stunning the former girl. Shaking herself out of her state of shock, she began to register the music in the surroundings. Really loud music. When her two other friends managed to catch up to her, she pointed to the blonde on the 'dance floor', "That's Fate-chan," she mouthed out.

Suzuka and Arisa turned and watched as the blonde began to dance. No doubt, she was amazing. Although they knew nothing about dancing, they could tell. She was better than those they had seen in school. Despite the dancing genre, she seemed so graceful and flawless. However, everything seemed to crash, when the blonde stood up to show she had completed her moves and approached someone and imitated a smoking action.

_She smokes? _Nanoha frowned at the thought.

When the blonde returned to her original position, she ignored Nanoha and the rest and resumed cheering the next person dancing.

Ten minutes passed, and then the music finally stopped. Finally, the blonde turned around to realize Nanoha was there.

"Oh, princess! What are you doing here?" Fate asked. The comment raised a few eyebrows.

"I was on the way to school. 2pm, remember? It's 1.45pm now," Nanoha replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. These are my friends, Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan," she added while moving back for her friends to shake hands.

"Nice to meet you. So, students of TSAB as well?" Fate smiled as they shook hands.

Before the two girls could respond, their attention was snatched by a smaller brunette creeping behind their new blonde friend. A pair of eyes shining with mischief, hands wriggling as if in preparation for something, the girl jumped onto the latter's back.

"Omfph!"

"Fate-chan~ Who are these people? Nice battle, by the way. You won," the small girl congratulated.

"Hayate! Get off me, and thanks. I just met them too, actually. Guys, this is Hayate. And Hayate, this is Nanoha, the girl I've met recently, and… These two are… Arisa and Suzuka. Did I get your names right?" Fate replied, giving the two new girls an unsure look.

"Nice to meet you all, just call me Hayate-chan." The brunette, still on Fate, gave a peace sign.

Upon hearing the name, the three girls' jaws dropped. There was a minute of silence before Fate broke it.

"Uhh… Is something wrong? And Hayate, we gotta go, so get off me." She struggled to get the brunette off.

"Don't want to~ Fate-chan is nice to hug." She hugged Fate even tighter, with her eyes shut. Then those blue eyes suddenly opened widely, "Oh! Can I follow? Pleaseeeee. I'll be good!" she pleaded in attempt to imitate the Puss in Boots' cute eyes.

"W-wait a minute, by Hayate, by any chance, are you 'Yagami Hayate'?" Arisa finally spoke.

"Yep, that's me!" Hayate saluted, still on top of the struggling Fate, "At your service!"

"How do you know her?" Curious at how Arisa knew Hayate, Fate gave up struggling and asked.

"You kidding me? She's the famous Hayate of our school! Graham-sensei's granddaughter, who graduated TSAB in a year, and the one whose group of cousins followed her around while we were first years!"

"Ehehehe, I didn't know I was THAT famous." Hayate merely stuck out her tongue and rubbed the back of her head.

"Well," She had finally decided to jump off the annoyed blonde by now, "since you all know I'm an ex-student, can I follow you to watch your rehearsals now?"

Fate sighed.

"Well, it's up to princess. I'm not the one who's performing or anything." Fate looked over to Nanoha who had been silent for a while, silently begging the slightly taller brunette to turn down the idea.

"Alright, the more the merrier anyways!" Nanoha grinned brightly at the rest. Obviously someone did not catch the hint, causing Fate to groan.

Finally getting rid of the nuisance on her back, Fate sighed and hurriedly packed her bag and left with her new friends.

Upon arriving at TSAB, Arisa and Suzuka bid Nanoha goodbye. They too had to practice for their recitals.

"So, princess. What've you got so far?" Fate, again, was leaning on the bars.

"Not much, actually… A solo dance is actually really hard to choreograph. That's why I got a sensei to help." Nanoha squat by the remote, deep in thought.

"Who are you performing for?

"Hm?" Nanoha was still trying hard to think of something. She looked up, into those curious red eyes.

"Who are you performing for?"

"Uhmm… I'm not quite sure, actually. I was just told this recital is for the VIPs of all famous companies out there, maybe even celebrities would be around. Some seniors told me if I'm lucky, I may get scouted for my first job. And I'm praying really hard for that to happen… If not…" She drifted off.

Catching the hint that it was some personal matter, Fate dropped it.

"If that's the case, how about this? Since I'm your dance partner… Wait, when we first met, when you said to dance for you, you meant this, right?" Fate asked out of confirmation.

"… Yea."

"Right, then how about we teach each other our dance genres, and integrate them all into your recital? Nowadays, knowing just one dance genre is not enough, especially ballet, no offence. And especially since I don't know much about it, it doesn't entertain me. It barely keeps me awake. You've got to think about what the media want. And they want entertainment. Notice that nowadays there are always new dance genres coming up? You gotta keep yourself up-to-date. So I'll teach you breaking, popping and locking, while you teach me ballet, ok?"

A thousand arrows pierced through Nanoha's heart. Poor girl clenched her heart tightly. She knew the blonde was trying to help by being direct, but she didn't expect that. Ballet was her world. Sure, she knew about the other dance genres, but focused on doing well in school, she didn't have enough free time to take up the rest.

_Guess I should've taken more time out to learn other genres, huh? But with just two of us, can we make it? …Better than nothing, I guess._

Swallowing the huge lump in her throat and the tears about to leak, she simply nodded at the suggestion, afraid her voice would give away her sadness.

However, that did not go unnoticed by Hayate, who was squatting by a corner. Deciding to lend them a helping hand, she raised her hand.

"How about my cousins help you guys?"

The suggestion definitely helped. Nanoha's ears perked up immediately.

"Sure! The more the merrier, really! That way, I can choreograph a canon. The recital would be wonderful!" She clapped joyfully.


	7. Chapter 6 The Wolkenritters

Hellooooo again. :) Thank you for waiting, I know it took waayyyyyy longer than expected, but I haven't exactly been very free or in the mood to write. So here it is, chapter 6. And again, critics are welcome, please let me know what you think. How I can improve, how it's bad, what you might want me to add, anything! Chapter 7 will come very soon, definitely before this week ends, so look forward to it! :)

And here's my reply to the reviews:

I do have plans for my next chapters, I'm just not very sure how to... Write them out. I'm really new to writing, so sorry. :/ Nanoha didn't cry 'cause she has to learn more. It's just that, when you put in your best efforts and realize it's far from enough, it hurts, you know? And no, Fate doesn't smoke. It's a way to provoke people. The smoking action actually means "I'll beat you", "You're going down", etc.. Yea, it's just a battle gesture. And yes, tango... I'm... Working on that. I think I know how to add it in, but it'll be a long time later. XD Again, thanks for the reviews! :)

* * *

The hot blazing sun shone brightly in the sky, melting everything in sight. Fortunately for those in the park, they were sheltered by the trees, even if not fully. Swaying in the wind, the sun managed to infiltrate through the space between the leaves, making its way to the people below. Birds were singing, crickets were chirping. It was a very perfectly peaceful morning, like every other day… However, at an isolated parking lot of Uminari, music was being blasted to the maximum volume. They were at it again.

Nanoha leaned her body onto a pillar for support. Fanning herself with her white shirt and unconsciously tapping her feet to the beat, she watched the group of dancers standing in a ring attentively. Fate was supposed to teach her dancing, but for some reason unknown to her, all she was taught the previous day were 'theories'. Just the terms used on the streets and a bit of basic techniques.

_I'm still surprised there are so many terms in breaking. I mean, wow. Who would've thought that breaking was so complicated? Fate-chan told me to look out for the different techniques: toprock, footwork, power-moves, freeze, threading and transitions._

"Oooooh~ put your loving hands up baby~ I'm begging!"

The DJ, Hayate, had changed the song for the second round now. It was Fate's turn. As usual, she was wearing her torn jeans, black shirt and her favourite cap. When the beat started, Fate took two quick strides to the centre of the ring, fell to her knees and skidded to her 'opponent', a tall pink haired girl. In one swift motion, she flipped herself into a handstand, causing her shirt to fall a little, revealing her body. She then took off her cap, letting her golden low ponytail fall out. After hopping backwards a few times, she bent her elbow, stabbing it into the side of her stomach and straightening it again, and bending a second time there before hopping back up. That caught Nanoha's attention. How was it possible for Fate to execute such a move? Then she noticed how well toned her arms and stomach was. Hardly any visible fats, and the well toned muscles. Nanoha looked at herself… And frowned.

_Fat. _She thought before resuming her observation on the blonde, no no no, the dancing. _No more cakes._

As if taunting the taller girl, Fate crouched down, crawled towards her again. Once directly in front of her, the blonde hopped a little and landed on the ground with a pose. One hand behind her head, another hand over her crotch area. It was as if she was saying 'you're not even worth the fight'. Smirking, the blonde worked her way back to her side of the ring before standing up again to pose, showing that she has ended her turn.

_Beat that_. She glared at the pinkette, in attempt to send the message across.

The crowd hollered, and waved their wrists up and down, at Fate's moves. It was sharp, every step killed the music. But it was so fast, nobody could predict what she was about to do next. Fate was awesome.

The taunting and the crowd did not seem to affect the 'opponent' in any way, however. She remained stoic. With her arms crossed, she walked into the centre of the ring and when the chorus came, she flipped. All cheers for Fate fell silent. It was unheard of, to flip without any momentum. Proud of achieving the crowd's attention, she smiled to herself and flipped again, landing in a split and jumped back up. Then the crowd roared again as the girl started her routine, amazed at how the two girls could dance. As if imitating an archer, she drew an imaginary bow, took her aim at the blonde, and slid back and down to the ground while letting it go. The pinkette then jumped into a freeze, and pushed herself up to a handstand and spinning on both her hands in the same spot. The crowd "Ooooohed" at the provocation, and turned to the blonde to try to spot any reaction. Fate merely frowned at the insult.

The girl then dropped to the ground smoothly again and 'wriggled' on the floor like how a caterpillar or earthworm would. Once done with her showcase, the taller girl stood up before Fate, wiped her hand before the blonde's face, threw her hand onto the ground and stomping the same spot and returned to her spot.

The music ended with Hayate scratching the audio a few times. Raising a hand, she pointed to the right side, and the crowd cheered "Signum! Signum! Signum!"

Nodding at the response, she turned to the left side. This time, the crowd cheered even louder, "Reaper! Reaper! Reaper! Fate! Fate! Fate!"

With that, Hayate, took Fate's hand and raised it up, showing that she was declared the winner of the battle. The two girls shook their hands, hugged, and left the ring for their drinks.

Nanoha was speechless. She didn't know what to say or even think. Revising what she had just watched earlier and matching them with the terms she was taught, she did not realise that Fate and her 'opponent' were standing before her, laughing.

"That was a great battle, Signum."

"Yea, you were really cool. Where'd you get those moves this time?"

"Pshh, like I'm telling you. Your caterpillar was sweeeeet. Short, fast and wavy. Like a speeding caterpillar! Any intentions of sharing?" Fate's eyes were practically glistening in anticipation.

"Hmm… How about… No." The girl called 'Signum' deadpanned, causing the shorter girl to pout. "Unless you teach me your footwork."

"Footwork ain't something I can teach, I freestyle them and you know it!"

The pinkette merely chuckled and ruffled the blonde's hair, causing her to blush. Despite being rivals for years, she could never get used to being treated like a child by Signum. Splashing herself with water, she shook her head to hide the redness.

"So, princess. Was the demonstration good? Any questions? Got lost anywhere in the middle of the battle?" Fate asked Nanoha with a smile.

"First question, why do they call you reaper? And… I think that's about it. What you call toprock and footwork doesn't seem that hard to learn."

"Oh, actually, reaper doesn't mean any-" Before Fate could complete her sentence, Signum interrupted.

"To answer your first question, reaper is actually Fate's Bgirl name. In the breaker's world, every famous or recognized dancer has their own nickname. Testarossa's is Lightning reaper. Funny thing though, her nickname wasn't picked by her. Everyone that knows her recognizes her for her speed and ability to kill the music. As swift as lightning, and killing like the grim reaper, hence Lightning Reaper. As for learning the moves, good luck. They may be easy to learn, but hard to execute smoothly."

"Oh, thanks, uhmm…" _Oh shucks, I really gotta learn my manners._

"Signum. Signum Wolkenritter, leader of the Wolkenritter crew. You're Takamachi Nanoha, right? I've heard about you. It's nice to finally meet you." Signum raised a hand to shake Nanoha's.

"Right, Signum-san." Nanoha smiled brightly as they shook hands.

Fate was about to retort at Signum's explanation of her name but, at the sight of Nanoha's bright smile, she merely stood there speechless, allowing the two to converse.

How could someone smile so freely? Must be a really lucky girl… She sighed at the thought. _I guess letting her know about Lightning Reaper's fine after all…_

As if on cue, a group of teenagers came to greet the three of them, one of them being Hayate, and pounced onto Fate.

"Fate-chan! Nice battle, you guys were dope," She poked Fate's cheek. "What were you smiling about? Someone looks like she's in love~"

"N-noo, I'm not." The breaker was caught by surprised. Turning around, she saw the rest of the Wolkenritter crew, Vita, Shamal, and Zafira Wolkenritter.

"Good timing, I'd like you to meet the rest of the crew. The gentle one is Shamal, the vertically challenged one is Vita, and the male is Zafira. We're all siblings, and cousin of Hayate-san. I'm sure she's mentioned to you about us before, right?" As Signum introduced the group, one by one, they shook hands with the taller brunette.

"Yes, it's nice to finally meet you guys," Nanoha replied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don't let me catch you calling me shortie. I'm just late with puberty!" the one in red said with a puff.

* * *

Yesterday…

"Sure! The more the merrier, really! That way, I can choreograph a canon. The recital would be wonderful!" She clapped joyfully.

…

After settling on the number of people that would be helping Nanoha out, it was decided that Hayate would come up with a new track for Nanoha's canon, and for the time being, Fate would teach Nanoha a bit of breaking, just the terms and basics, enough for her to get by and to know what to look out for, while Nanoha would teach Fate the ballet.. Since the Wolkenritters, according to Hayate, knew ballet AND street dancing, they would just help Fate out with her ballet and Nanoha with her street dancing. That way, they'd learn more in a shorter period of time and Nanoha would have more time to choreograph.

When Hayate left to look for an empty music room to use, the two girls decided to get started.

"Alright, I'll go first since it's my recital, I plan it to be more ballet focused, so I gotta teach you the basics. Here's how you do an En pointe" Nanoha started off, and lifting one of her feet and tipping toe on the other.

"Yeah, sure. And here's how you do a baby freeze," Fate responded, head leaning on the floor, one hand stabbing her sides and the other supporting her leg and balance. Obviously someone didn't seem very happy.

"Hey, work with me here, I'm trying to teach!"

"Well, you ain't doing a good job"

"You aren't even serious about this!"

"Touché… Now seriously, teach me something, I know how to tip toes."

Nanoha sighed. It was understandable. People new to ballet didn't understand the importance of En pointe. She rubbed her temples and thought hard. How do I teach like this? _Mou, I'm not even a teacher, I'm still a student!_

Fate, noticing Nanoha's predicament, decided to listen. It was the same for her. Baby freeze was probably like En pointe in breaking, one of the most essential basics any breaker must get used to, whether they like it or not. Unable to tolerate seeing the poor brunette frowning and deep in thought, she gave in.

"Is this how u do it?" She tip-toed.

Nanoha silently thanked her for cooperating and walked towards Fate to adjust her body posture. "No no, your hands have to be up, and you've got to balance on only one foot, on the tip of your toes, not your toes, watch me carefully."

Standing beside Fate, she stood on En pointe. "Back straight, hands up to balance, one foot on the toes, the other off the ground. It's expected for a ballet dancer to be able to do so for both feet, but we have limited time, so I guess I'll just go with your dominant one."

Fate watched Nanoha's En pointe carefully and tried again. This time, she got it right.

"How's this even possible? My toes hurt!" After attempting to balance for 10 seconds, the breaker gave up.

"Right, you learn fast! Ballet's actually very simple for beginners. There are only four main techniques, turns, leaps, extensions and traveling steps. En pointe can be used in any of them, therefore it is important to get used to being on the tip of your toes. Now your turn."

This time, Fate knelt on the ground, right knee facing front.

"Alright, this is the easiest move. It's the basic, not commonly used though since it's too simple and does not look attractive, but it's very important to know this before I teach anything else."

She tapped her right knee and placed her left elbow behind it, right elbow on her right side, and slowly leaned down till her head was on the floor.

"This is a baby freeze. Not sure why it's called that, but it is a MUST LEARN. I emphasize again, a MUST LEARN." Her voice was stern, trying to show how important this was.

New to this sort of stuff, Nanoha scrutinized the blonde 'laying' on the floor and tried to imitate her. Unfortunately, she failed miserably, causing Fate to burst out in laughter.

"Oh gosh, princess! I haven't laughed like this in ages!" Fate fell out of her freeze and lay on the floor, causing the ballerina to pout, resisting the urge to smack her hard since they were just new friends. Sort of.

"Oh come on, you're not even teaching me properly! All you did was place your hands here and there and suddenly you've done it!" The brunette tried a second time, only to fall again.

Fate wiped away her tears and tried to stifle her laughter, but failed miserably again at the sight of the falling brunette.

"Ok, ok. I'll teach you. Which is your dominant hand? We'll start with the easy one first."

"Left."

"Ok, kneel down, left knee facing front. With your left hand, place it on the floor and lean your external oblique onto it, slowly, until your head is on the floor. As you've seen me just now, my legs aren't on the floor. Where do they go? One on the right hand, which is placed in front of you, the other… Wherever you want, but just don't look wack."

With a simple demonstration, Nanoha tried again, a third time. She managed to get into position, but was fidgeting non-stop.

"Urgh, why's it so uncomfortable? Am I doing it wrong?" This only caused Fate to start laughing again.

"No, no, don't worry. It's normal for beginners. You just gotta find the right spot on your own. That's what's tough about breaking. We can only teach you, but you gotta explore what's best for you and your body."

The brunette continued to fidget, amusing Fate even further.

_She's so cute. Normally, beginners would be shy to try things out in front of others, but she's got courage I gotta give her that._

"So normally, we learn to be able to do this comfortably on both sides. However, like you said, because we have limited time, I'll just stick to left for you. By the way, how much time we got?"

"Three months. What's wack?"

"Three months? Princess you kidding me? You can't learn a lot like this, you've got a whole song to choreograph! You sure about this?"

"Nyahaha, I guess. Don't worry, choreographing a song is not hard. I thought mine up in two days." Nanoha rubbed the back of her head. "All I need is to learn all the dance moves. What's more, a canon is even easier than a solo piece."

"Whoa, princess… You're a genius." Fate stood there, eyes wide open. Even though she was a freestyle dancer, anyone had to start off dancing with routines. And routines were never easy to come up with. Smooth and good ones, that is. For Fate, even just one set of routine, which in a battle would only be a minute, would take her a day or two to create and perfect. Just two days and she's able to choreograph a canon? It sounded impossible to her.

"So… What's wack?"

*Snap*

Fate shook herself out of her admiration for the brunette. "Huh?"

"What did you mean by wack just now?"

"O-oh, it means stupid," The breaker deadpanned. "Like, for example, the baby freeze you did just now. There are countless places you can position your free leg in, but some would look stupid, like this." She demonstrated, pointing one of her leg high up in the air in a rather spastic manner, causing Nanoha to laugh.

"Seems like you guys are having fun. Oooh, baby freeze, huh? Basics of basics."

The two dancers jumped and turned to the voice's origin.

"Hayate!" The two called out.

"Back so fast? As expected of a genius who graduated in a year," Fate said. Proud of her old friend, she smiled expectantly.

"Nope." the short brunette smiled back at the blonde, who raised an eyebrow at the reply. "But I've got something good for you guys."

The musician waltzed over to the remote control and played a song.

"It's the song I used for my recital. After they found out I made this whole song up on my own, I was swarmed, and I'm not exaggerating here, by companies. But I turned them down since I wasn't interested in working for any of those media scums. It's got both break beats and at the same time, classical music in it so I hope you like it!"

While listening to the music, Nanoha closed her eyes and laid on the floor, while Fate merely gave Hayate a questioning look, which was replied with a finger on her lips. When the music ended, Nanoha was still lying on the floor. Fate walked over to check if the girl was awake when suddenly, she sat up, knocking into Fate's head.

"Ouch, what was that for? Revenge?"

Ignoring Fate's joke, Nanoha looked at Hayate with a smile.

"I've got it! I think I know how to choreograph this already!"

"That's… Fast? All I taught you was a baby freeze and you can street dance into ballet already?"

"No, but I've seen you dance, and a bit more on tv, it shouldn't be that hard. All I need now is your cousins tomorrow and lessons on breaking. Is it ok if I bring this home, Hayate-chan?"

"Yeah, no problem. It's just one of my many projects anyways."

"Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow then?"

"Sorry, got a battle scheduled tomorrow" Hayate and Fate replied.

"A battle? Ohh no no no, please please please don't tell me you're one of those LOL gamers!" Nanoha said pleadingly, looking at the two girls.

"What? No, dude, no! A battle, you know? You just break it down, show your best moves and whoever's better wins and gets the cash?" Fate exclaimed and turned to Hayate who was laughing. "What's LOL in the first place?"

Hayate merely continued to laugh at the two girls. It was so cute that both of them were so innocent in such different ways.

"Uh, nope, what's a battle then?" Nanoha asked Fate.

"Figures. Alright, I'll show you one day though… How about tomorrow? Ten o' clock, at the haunted parking lot. You know which, right?"

"Mmm. I'll see you then."

* * *

"So what's this about helping Nanoha for her recital? Hayate, you didn't need help, did you?" Vita asked as they left the parking lot. Fate and Signum's battle was over, they were free to do whatever they wanted. Hayate simply smiled and ruffled the midget's hair.

"Now, now, ballet is much tougher than music. Music nowadays, with technology, is way easier compared to ballet who requires maximum effort and creativity. And apologize to Nanoha for that. What you said was rather hurtful."

"…Sorry, Nantoka."

"Nanoha." Fate corrected Vita.

"What?" Vita glared at the breaker.

"Nanoha, say it properly."

"I did! Nantoka!"

Fate sighed exasperatedly. It was rude to call someone by his or her name wrongly, and Vita should have known this. She was about to raise her voice when Nanoha patted her on her shoulder.

"It's ok, Fate-chan."

"My apologies for Vita's rudeness, Nanoha-chan. She's always like this. I hope you forgive her. How about I treat you to lunch today?" Shamal joined in, just in case a fight broke out.

"Mm, that sounds nice. Where do you guys usually eat for lunch?"

"Wenda's, Nanoha." Zafira answered.

"So… Lunch at Wenda's, then practice?" Hayate piped in.

"Sounds good."


	8. Chapter 7 Sensei

Sooo... Here's another update. I know this came later than planned. Two weeks late, am I right? Sorry, my laptop kind of died on me so I had to send it for repair. D: But! During this period of time, I've completed chapter 8 and 9. I 'll post chapter 8 tomorrow since it's kind of late here and I should be in bed now. And if I can complete chapter 10 in the next few days, I'll post up chapter 9 too! :D Alright, enough about me. As usual, I look forward to reviews! Enjoy! :D

* * *

Blue eyes stared hard into red, and red into blue.

"It's mine," the two girls declared at the same time.

A pair of wooden sticks tackled each other non-stop in attempt to poke the last takoyaki in the box.

"You ate five takoyaki, and I've only got four, I should get the last one!"

"I'm still a growing child. It's mine."

"Phfft, a takoyaki wouldn't make a difference, Testarossa. Unless you plan to grow horizontally. Nanoha's shorter than you, don't worry."

"Quit it. At least I'm awesome. And I won our last battle too. Now give it!" Fate shouted to hide her blush due to the last comment.

Hayate facepalmed at the commotion the two has caused. Knowing the both of them well enough, and after countless past attempts to stop them, the brunette has given up on hopes of them to quit fighting. Fate and Signum have been rivals ever since they met. However, being the leader of the Wolkenritters, she expected Signum to give in to Fate, since she was older as well, and not to mention over a mere takoyaki!

_Signum could be really childish at times… How I wish Shamal was here._

Shamal Wolkenritter, second oldest of the crew, often known as "The Mom". Being the oldest amongst the Wolkenritters, ever since they moved in with Hayate, she had assumed the role of a mother, taking care of everyone and the house since Gil Graham was hardly home.

"Fifty four to Fifty four. We're tied, after your previous win, shortie."

"You actually count?" Fate asked, ignoring the insult.

The takoyaki forgotten, the brunette ignored the bickering two and took the opportunity to steal the takoyaki.

"Mmmmm~ Delicious! No wonder you guys were fighting over it," She finally spoke up.

"HAYATE!" The two girls finally quit their bickering now. Fierce red and blue eyes sent shivers down said girl's spine.

"Ok, ok! I'm sorry!" _God, it's just a takoyaki! Why so serious? _"Can we just get going now? You're gonna be late, you know?"

Finally snapping out of their own worlds, the girls finally realized that it was 1.50pm and they were still at Wenda's fighting over takoyaki. Hurriedly, they packed their stuff and ran over to school.

It had been about three weeks since the group of dancers had met Nanoha, and it had already become a habit for them to meet her every day, or rather just Fate. On weekdays, Nanoha would join Fate and the Signum at the parking lot, and they'd head to school after lunch to practice. On weekends, Nanoha would spend the morning helping out at the café while the crew would have their private practice sessions while Fate hung around and practiced her basic ballet. After lunch, Fate, as usual, would leave the crew and head over to the park to dance, as well as to meet Nanoha. It was no wonder why everyone would tease Nanoha and Fate about being a couple.

* * *

-Slam!-

All eyes turned to the door. There stood Fate, Signum and Hayate, squeezing their way through the small entrance to the studio.

"I got here first! I win!" The red eyed girl jumped with joy.

"You took a shortcut, Testarossa. That's foul play."

"Just admit it, I'm faster than you."

"Tsk. Doesn't matter. Point's we're here on time."

"Sore loser, admit your loss!" Fate accused. She was at her limits now.

"Immature girl." The pink haired girl muttered.

"Says you."

Again, the two girls had started their argument, leaving a panting Hayate leaning by the wall. The two girls, out of nowhere, decided to race their way here, leaving her behind so she had to run over too. The tired brunette sunk onto the floor to be offered a bottle of water. Blue eyes looked up to meet an identical pair. The latter smiled before walking to the other two girls.

Still too engrossed in their fight, the pinkette and blonde did not notice the angry brunette approaching them until… -Flick!-

"Oww! What's the big i-"The two girls rubbed their foreheads and abruptly stopped in mid-sentence to see a smiling Nanoha. Despite the wide grin on said girl's face, she didn't seem very happy. It wasn't the usual Nanoha that Fate knew, which scared her.

"Somethi-" Before Fate completed her question, she was interrupted. _Something wrong, princess?_

"First of all, does it REALLY matter who got here first? Secondly, neither of you are on time. It's 2.15pm. And most importantly, you guys DO realize that Hayate was suffering trying to catch up to you, right?" Nanoha questioned sarcastically, still smiling.

Finally realizing their mistakes, the two girls pouted at their childishness and how it affected their friend by the wall.

"Sorry, Hayate and Nanoha." They said apologetically, bending their heads in shame.

_Awww, she's so cute! Makes me want to pinch those cheeks!_ _Seriously! No, Nanoha, no! You're straight, and it's practice time. _Nanoha tried her best to hide her smile, which did not go unnoticed by Hayate.

"Alright, now let's get started. Chop chop!"

* * *

A while later…

"Alright, let's take five, guys. Good job so far, we're making progress." Nanoha announced.

Five bodies collapsed onto the floor panting.

"God, that was hell, Nantoka." Vita complained, earning herself a glare.

"No kidding, it's like training from hell! You! Are! A! Devil!" Fate added, panting as well.

"White Devil," The short one muttered.

"Hey!" The offended brunette pouted. "We've got only two months left, any sense of urgency here?"

"Yes, white devil~" The rest of the dancers whined.

Hayate, who had been sitting by the corner the whole time giggled to herself. Despite all the complaints, she could tell her cousins were having a great time. For them, nothing beats dancing. Even if it was ballet. Not only that, they wouldn't have given Nanoha a nickname if they didn't get along. Deciding she should do a little something for the group, she picked up the empty bottles by the floor and headed to the door.

"Good job, guys. And thank you White Devil-chan. For your hard work, I shall help you guys refill your water bottles." She left with a wink.

Twenty seconds later... And she was back. Slamming the door shut, she leaned onto the door, hands spread out, as if someone was chasing her.

"That was fast…? You ok? You look like you've seen a ghost, Hayate." Vita asked.

"You're sweating. Are you sick, Hayate?" Shamal approached the girl.

"N-n-n-nooo, not a ghost. Worse!" That statement caused eyebrows to raise.

"Rein-chan!" she gasped in horror, causing the Wolkenritters and Fate to facepalm.

"Rein-chan? Oh, you mean Reinforce-sensei?" Nanoha asked. "What's so scary about her? She was the one who helped me out with my routine." She frowned. Despite her lack of expression in classes all the time, Reinforce was a very nice teacher. She never spoke much unless she needed to point out the flaws of students and was always gentle in her way of correcting them. Everyone who knew Reinforce liked her. It was weird that Hayate seemed to dislike (or fear) Reinforce.

"Your Reinforce-sensei has been Hayate's crush since graduation," Fate said with a sigh. "According to her, Reinforce-sensei wore the most beautiful dress during her recital. 'She looked like a fallen angel'" The blonde imitated Hayate's dreamy eyes and tone as she recalled those days when the brunette would whine to her all day long about missing her.

"And ever since that day, she could never stop thinking about her." Signum deadpanned.

"Hey, it wasn't THAT bad!" Hayate retorted. "… Was it?"

"Hey, according to scientists, if you've had a crush on someone for more than four months, usually by then, you've already fallen in love," Nanoha teased.

"I-I'm not in love with Rein-chan!" The former brunette picked up the bottles she dropped on the floor. She was blushing now.

"Who's in love with who?" A gentle voice asked, coming from the door.

"R-R-Rein-chan!" The sight of Reinforce sent Hayate in a blubbering mess.

By the door stood a grey-haired lady with dull red eyes, donned in her usual black dress and boots. Reinforce surveyed the room for an answer. Silence filled the room until someone else entered.

_Ohh god, it's that dress again! Oh my darling angel… _Hayate sighed inwardly.

"Hmm, it's surprisingly quiet for a studio under reservation, don't you think, Rein-sensei? Whoa, Fate? What are YOU doing here?" All eyes went to Fate, and then the man standing beside Reinforce. Fate remained quiet. She merely laid still on the floor, head lifted up with all the energy she could muster, staring at her brother, eyes wide.

_Chrono! What's- ohh yeahh…. It's his school…_ The blonde stood up to talk, but no words came out. Should she call him Onii-chan? Or should she call her Chrono? It had been a while and yet she still hadn't adjusted. But she didn't want to hurt her brother's feelings or disrespect him in public.

As if sensing her distress, the man walked over and ruffled her blonde hair, messing it up.

"So this is where you've been every day, little sis? I'm surprised I never saw you around though," He said with a toothy grin.

"T-t-that's 'cause I never left this studio. And… I'm afraid of getting lost again…" Fate replied with a blush, whispering the last part.

To see the confident reaper reduced to a stuttering mess, the Wolkenritters rolled on the floor laughing, while Nanoha merely giggled in a corner at her cuteness. As for Hayate… Poor girl was still too engrossed with her fallen angel.

"Chrono-sensei, aren't you supposed to be helping Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan with their recitals?" Nanoha asked.

"Yeah, but they've left already. It's 7pm, you guys know that? The security guards sent us to do their routines instead while they did some paperwork. You gotta go."

"Sensei?" Fate raised an eyebrow. She didn't know Chrono was a teacher.

"Yep." The blue haired man took a deep breath and placed a fist on his chest, as if proud of his 'job'. "Onii-chan's an intern here. I'm currently a teacher, under Graham-san's supervision."

_Ohhh, so no wonder Graham-sensei seems to know so much about me. Practically everyone around me knows him!_ Fate resisted the temptation to facepalm… Which caused her to fall backwards, landing her head on the ground with a THUD!

Rushing over to pick Fate up, Chrono asked worriedly, "Fate, you ok? You haven't worked yourself too hard, have you? You've been coming home late, Kaa-san's kind of worried."

"No, I just-"

"Nah, that's got to be it,. I'll bring you home now, Rein-san, I'll leave the kids up to you." Picking up Fate to carry her on his back, he left the studio, without allowing the rest of the kids any chance to protest.

Reinforce nodded at the instructions given and turned back to the rest.

"So… Who's in love with who, Hayate-chan?" she asked with a smile.

* * *

"Chrono… What was that for? You knew I was perfectly fine…" Fate asked, struggling to get off her brother.

"What, can't I spend a little time with my little sister?" he asked back. When he was replied with silence, he smiled and let Fate down, but still held onto her hand. "Come on, let's go home. It's really late already, we're about to miss dinner. Kaa-san won't be happy. And you know how she gets…"

Oh yes, Fate definitely knew. Lindy was not one to be messed with when it came to house rules.

Fate merely remained silent, holding her left hand onto her chest, as if digging into it to reach for her heart. Swallowing the huge lump in her throat with everything she had in her, she nodded.

"Mmm."

_It hurt. No… No, it didn't. It can't hurt._

It had been so long… So long since she had heard of those words.

_Little sister, no, I don't deserve to be called that._

A tear made its way down the girl's cheek. Hurriedly, she wiped it away in fear of causing the man before her to worry. She didn't deserve any concern from him. She didn't even deserve to live.

* * *

Back at the studio:

"So… Who's in love with who, Hayate-chan?" Reinforce asked with a smile.

"Ah hahaha…" Hayate stood there speechless, and attempted to fake a laugh. She sweat dropped.

_Shit, I can't let her know! Somebody, help me! _She screamed in her head in hopes of someone responding.

"Who, you ask, Rein-chan, is a good question. We were just teasing…" She dragged her sentence and glared at Vita expecting a bit of help.

After deciding it was safe to put on her cap, the short girl carefully placed it on her head in such a way it made her seem taller and sighed.

"We were just teasing Nantoka about being in love with Fate." Upon completing her sentence, before she knew it, she was back on the floor, hugged by Hayate.

"I owe you one, Vita-chan!" The brunette whispered.

"Ice cream, please. Chocolate, with the sprinkles. You know it."

"Nanoha? And Fate?" Dull wine-red orbs turned to the brunette.

_Such beautiful red eyes… Just like Fate-chan's… No, Fate-chan's eyes aren't just dull, they are hollow as well. As if… Everything she does is a front she puts up for people. No, they're filled with life when she dances._

"Nanoha? Are you alright?" Reinforce asked, snapping the brunette out of her reverie.

"Eh-eh, I'm fine. It's just that…" _Your eyes remind me of Fate-chan so much…_

"Rein-chan, Nanoha's probably missing her Fate-chan already," Hayate chirped.

A blush crept up the taller brunette's face, causing everyone to laugh at her.

"Mou… Fate-chan's just a friend…"

"Alright guys, enough teasing Nanoha. Her face is as red as a tomato now. I'm getting hungry too. Let's go. We wouldn't want Reinforce-sensei to get into trouble for our stay, would we?" Signum announced, eying a certain brunette while saying the last sentence, causing her to blush.

Little did everyone know that Reinforce seemed to have caught the little hint and blushed as well.

* * *

During dinner at the Harlaown's:

For some reason, there was someone new by the dining table. A brunette with brown eyes, which were hardly visible since she was always laughing with her eyes closed. For the past twenty minutes, she had been talking and laughing non-stop with Lindy. Amy Limietta, Chrono's girlfriend. Or according to Lindy, she was already a fiancée.

Fate frowned. Couldn't she have a peaceful dinner after a long day? She sighed.

It wasn't that she didn't like Amy, in fact, she loved Amy. She was a really nice person who cared about Chrono, and she was glad her brother found someone like her. It was just that after a whole day of dancing, not to mention her feelings messing with her, she just wanted to get dinner over and done with and head to bed.

She eyed Chrono, who was across the table from her, to gain his attention and turned her head to Amy and back then used her hand to imitate her mouth with her hands. "_Does she ALWAYS talk this much?"_

Chrono shrugged and mouthed, "Kind of, especially with people she's new with. Are you ok?" before taking a sip of his soup.

Before Fate could respond, a hand in front of her robbed her brother of her attention. Amy was piling food onto her bowl!

"Eat up, Fate-chan. I heard you've been working hard for Nanoha's recital. Don't want you collapsing again like today, right?" she said, happily adding more food into the girl's bowl.

_I guess she's not so annoying after all… Although, she needs to know, I don't eat THAT much._

"Collapsed? Fate? Is that true?" Lindy asked worriedly.

_Ohhh shoot._ Too tired to talk, she merely sat there quietly and tried to empty her bowl.

"I take your silence as saying it DID happened. I'd like you to rest the whole day tomorrow, alright? Which means no dancing. If you've been dancing every day, dawn to dusk, you're going to overwork yourself. You don't have to anymore, Fate."

With the honorifics dropped, Fate knew it wasn't a question. And negotiation was out too.

"Alright, Lindy-san…"

* * *

"So… You can't come to practice tomorrow?" Nanoha asked over the phone.

"Yea, sorry princess." Fate replied. Lying on her bed with her head leaning over the phone, she was watching Arf snore away in her bed.

"It's alright. Then I'll take a day off, too! Otou-san's been rather upset lately that I've been neglecting the café anyways."

"You can always practice with the rest, still, you know? Or at least make sure they got their routines right. Vita seems to still be struggling with the middle part." Fate was upset. She didn't want to slow down the progress of the group just because of herself.

"Nahh…" It's_ different without you around. _Nanoha sighed on the phone. "I know, why don't you come over tomorrow to my café? The Midoriya Café." She quickly changed the topic.

"Oh, the one with the long queue all day long?"

"Mm!" The brunette grinned from ear to ear, as if trying to transmit her happiness over.

"I don't know… I don't even know if I'll be allowed out of the house. I'm not grounded, but keeping me indoors is the only way kaa-san can stop me from dancing."

Then an idea struck her.

"I know! Are dogs allowed into the café? Maybe I can take Arf for a walk and come over for lunch." Fate asked enthusiastically. It had been a while since she took Arf out, and she'd love to let her furry red friend meet Nanoha.

"Mm, I'm not sure. I guess if she's disciplined enough, she could be allowed. I've seen blind people with their guide dogs in, so it should be fine."

"Mm! It's settled then. Don't worry. Arf's an angel." She grinned.

Five minutes of awkward silence passed. It was than disrupted by the alarm clock by Fate's bed.

-Ten-o-clock-P-M. Ten-o-clock-P-M-

"Alright, that's my signal to go, 'night, princess."

"Goodight, Fate-chan."

…

Another two minutes of silence passed, and the two girls have yet to hang up.

Fate laughed. "You know, if you're not going to hang up, I can't go."

"M-m-mou, I was waiting for you to hang up!"

"We'll be seeing each other tomorrow, it's just one morning we won't be seeing each other, don't miss me too much. Now, hang. Up." Fate said with a stern voice. However, it failed as she broke into laughter when she heard Nanoha "Hmfph!" over the phone.

"Alright, on the count to three, we both hang up. One, two, three!"

After finally getting off the phone, Fate turned to look at the window and sighed. Smiling at the sight of the night blue sky, she placed a hand over her chest. _Warmth._ But it was different from the one just this evening's. _Nanoha, what are you doing to me?_

* * *

Meanwhile at the Takamachi's:

Nanoha stared at the phone. After much reluctance, she finally put down the call. Hugging her phone and rolling herself into a ball on her bed, she squealed a little. _I can still see Fate-chan tomorrow!_

Then realization struck her. _Oh no, but otou-san will be there! What if he doesn't like Fate-chan?_

"Grrrrr… Mouuu!" She threw punches in the air, and dropped her phone when her fists reached the furthest, or highest, they could go… -Konk!- -Clack- -Click- -Clack-

"Ouch! Stupid phone…" She grumbled before picking it up.


	9. Chapter 8 Meeting the Takamachis

Alright! Chapter 8! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 7. And here's my reply to the reviews.. It'll be a bit long since I forgot to reply in the previous one, so sorry. " Oh, and wow, I didn't know I have to actually moderate reviews now. And I can even edit them. That's just... weird.

Thanks Honulicious for pointing that out, I didn't know it was missing! I've edited it already though. Also, can you let me know where the mix up is somehow? I can't seem to find it. And yes, describing the dance moves were tougher than I thought. I struggled with that a lot, actually. From my knowledge, ballet dances do not seem to use too much ab power, so Nanoha's like any other normal girl I know, skinny, with little fats but no sexy abss. Hehee. A Nanofate Duet? I'll think about it. There's already Tango on the list! XP Yes, Nanoha's THAT fast. Despite being known for her brutal SLB, I'd like to think that came from her great control over her power among the trio, plus her creativity, hence creative enough to choreograph moves. Nope, feelings don't come in so soon. They're still too innocent! But soon, guys, soon! Wait for it! ;)

As for the daze Nanoha was in... To be honest, I just ignored that little flaw. I had no idea what to do with it, so I just left it there hanging, sorry. " Yeah... Signum's a big childish. It's a bit OOC, but I thought... Signum's only... Stiff(?) mainly because of her duties (Correct me if I'm wrong). Besides that, she seems to enjoy being Fate's rival. So that could be one way she relieves her stress. And who wouldn't let such a chance to have fun slip, right?

Alright, I've rambled enough. Without further ado, let Chapter 8 begin! :)

* * *

Knees on the floor, hands held together tightly, lips forming a small pout, eyebrows knit, and burgundy eyes wide open. As if trying her best to force a couple of crocodile tears out of her eyes, Fate shut her eyes as hard as possible and blinked a couple of times.

"Please, Lindy-san, please… It's just walking Arf!" To prove her point, she whistled. "Arf, come here. Good girl!" She pet the dog and turned back to her adoptive mother and tried again with a pout, "Look at her! She needs a little sunshine…"

Lindy frowned for a moment before sighing. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. It wasn't very often that the young blonde would ever make a request. In fact, if her memory wasn't failing her, yet, this was only the second time. First request being being allowed to keep the dog. Which was a given.

She groaned. _Darn, she's smart. Clyde, how I wish you were here to help me… Even Chrono wasn't so disciplined when he was a child!_

Fate was her beloved daughter, so normally she would've complied in a heartbeat. Especially to something like this! How often was it that kids nowadays were so responsible as to take such good care of their own dogs? But Fate. Fate, Fate, Fate.

She was supposed to be resting at home, and here she is, begging to do something.

Then it struck her. Lindy smirked. _Like mother, like daughter. A chip of the old block, really._

"Alright, on one condition." Fate seemed to perk up.

"What is it?" she asked excitedly.

"Tell me something I'd like to hear." Lindy gave Fate a knowing look.

"Eh-he-he… You're very pretty?" The blonde shuffled her feet and played with her fingers. She looked up and smiled, pretending to look as if she didn't know what Lindy meant.

"That's not going to work a second time, Fate. You gotta try harder~" the teal-haired woman sang.

As if the redness in her eyes had spread throughout the face, the blonde continued to play with her fingers. "B-b-bu-" Fate stammered.

"I'm waiting~" Lindy folded her arms, leaned by the wall and tapped her feet. Initially, she had planned to just let her little girl go after a little tease, but seeing Fate seemingly trying so hard was so cute that she decided to go along with it. She laughed to herself. _Oh I'm the luckiest mother in the world._

The younger Harlaown spun around and sighed. _The things I do for a girl- No, a friend…_

She put on her shoes and after ensuring that her laces were tied tightly, she stood up and opened the door, which Arf ran out from, to hide her face.

"See you later, k-kaa-san!" Before Lindy could react, Fate was already running after Arf.

"A leash, Fate! A leash!" Lindy poked her head out of the house and shouted to deaf ears as the two new members of her family scampered off. She leaned by the doorway and smiled. _Oh Clyde, really, if only you were here._

* * *

At a random neighborhood of Uminari:

-Pant-Pant-Pant-Pant-

Fate bent down to catch her breath.

"That was some warm-up, huh, Arf?" She turned to her dog that had been waiting for her. After leaving the house, Fate sprinted all the way to the park to escape her embarrassment.

After stretching her arms and legs a little, she petted Arf for waiting patiently. "Now up for our long awaited race?" she asked.

"Arf!" the dog barked enthusiastically. Fate chuckled. It had been weird for her at first, when the dog grew so large, she'd expect it to bark in a more intimidating manner, seeing as it looked more like a wolf now then a domestic dog. Only recently did she get used to the still childish barking. _Some things just never change, huh._

"Alright, hmmm…" She pulled out a red rubber ball out of her pocket and bounced it a few times. "You know the rules. Whoever gets this first wins. Here, sniff it. Ready?"

She huffed and with all her might, Fate swung her arms and the ball at its peak, allowing it to go as high as possible and far as it could towards the sun. The ball flew above and across the neighborhood terraces and continued bouncing off until it was out of sight.

"One-two-go!" Fate said, loud enough just for the two of them to hear.

Arf was a smart dog. Just like its owner. Born and raised in this town, it knew the neighborhood like the back of its hand… or paws. Before it met Fate, the once red puppy had been to every nook and cranny of Uminari for all reasons. As soon as her master shouted "go!" it immediately made a left turn to chase after the ball.

This gave the dog the upperhand, considering Fate was not the least bit familiar with the city just yet. Or at least, this part of the city. Fate did not like being in familiar places. She liked to explore. Which was why she chose this particular area; she had never been there before. Not to mention she enjoyed the challenge. After watching Arf running off, she stared into the direction she flung the ball at and furrowed her eyebrows. _Maybe throwing the ball in a random direction was a bad idea afterall…_

Right before her stood a mansion. Surrounded by walls. How was she to get past that? If she ran around it, she'd definitely lose. Arf already has a head start, she needed to catch up. Fast. Or her lunch money for the next few days was going to quality dog food.

She shrugged. _Oh well, a Testarossa never backs down from a challenge. Right, onee-chan?_

She hopped a few times to get a momentum and ran towards the mansion. Right before she was about to run into the wall, she jumped and held onto the top of the wall. When finally able to get a good grip, she kicked the wall and managed to push herself up to gain a little sight and glanced around.

_Nope, no ball, no one, no cameras, no guard dogs. Alright!_ She laughed to herself at her luck. _A little trespassing won't hurt anyone. Besides, nobody will know._

She flipped and landed on the ground. With her right foot and left hand, she kicked herself off into a sprint towards the other side of the mansion. This time, using both her arms, she leaped, she lifted her body and swung it to a side, across the wall and continued running.

Ball out of sight, pet nowhere to be found, Fate groaned. It had been five minutes since she ran in this direction after the mansion, still neither in sight. She had really thrown the ball too far this time. Still jogging, she looked around and picked the tallest house around to climb up. Once on top, she squat down and covered her eyes from the blinding sun. Eyes squinted tight, Fate turned around three-hundred and sixty degrees, her sharp red eyes scanned the neighborhood.

When a certain furry red animate animal came in sight, she grinned. _Rival located._ Arf didn't seem to know the exact location of the ball yet. It was still sniffing around.

She then looked around the dog in a few hundred meters radius and spotted something red. The grin stretched further across her face. _Target locked._

The blonde leaned forward, off the roof of the four-story building, onto the balcony of the second floor and flipped, rolling onto the ground to break her fall safely. She stood up and wiped the dirt off herself (not that it helped much) and started making a run for the ball. "Let's finish this!" she told herself, running towards the ball at full speed. Once she saw her dog coming in sight, she smiled at it, seeing as it was running into the same direction as her.

Just as Arf pounced onto the ball, Fate slid on the grass, snatching it right before the former caught it with its mouth. Fate won.

Arf leaned back and fell onto its butt and used its hind legs to scratch its head. It was its way of acting as if the race never mattered to it, but truth was, it was disappointed in its loss. For some reason though, Fate knew. She smiled and hugged the dog.

"Don't worry , you're MY winner." She soothed.

-Beep-Beep-

The beeping and vibration came from Fate's back pocket. She took out her phone to check what it was. _One message. Nanoha. _She smiled at the name.

Hello, Fate-chan!

I just checked with my parents, and good news for you, I was right! Dogs ARE allowed after all! ^^ Just thought you should know. Can't wait for you to drop by, I'll let you be mom's guinea pig to her new recipe! XD

Kidding, mom's newest recipe is delicious, you shall have the honor of being the first to taste it.

see you later!

Your princess,

3 Nanoha

Fate chuckled at the signature. "Just in time. Up for some lunch, Arf?"

"Arf!"

* * *

At Midoriya's:

By the time the breaker and her pet had reached the café, lunch rush was already over. The crowd was already leaving and the staff seemed glad to finally be able to take a break. Fate almost regretted entering when the entrance bell rang, alerting them of her presence, robbing them of their break. Although they were quickly replaced with masked smiles, Fate could tell how they disliked the job. Two pair of tired eyes seemed to pierce through her, striking her heart with guilt. One asking "Why are you here?" and the other begging "Leave, pleaseee." And when a lady approached Fate, the both of them exited from a door.

"Hi, welcome to Midoriya. How may I help you?" The young looking brunette approached with a bright smile. As soon as she opened her eyes, Fate seemed to lose her ability to speak, leaving her mouth wide open. _Cobalt eyes. Just like… _"Pri-"

"Ah, Fate-chan!" A slightly shorter and even younger looking brunette came over from the counter.

"Princess." Fate turned to the source of the caller and smiled, glad she was rescued from an epic-fail moment.

"Kaa-san, this is Fate-chan. The one who's going to try your new recipe." Nanoha took Fate by the hand and brought her to the reserved corner.

"Ahh, so this is the friend you've been talking about all morning?" Momoko asked.

"Mmm!" Nanoha then bent her knees to meet Arf. "And hello, you must be Arf. I'm Takamachi Nanoha." She waved her left hand a little, gaining a bark from the red wolf-like animal. "Boy, you sure are big!" The dog then responded by licking the ballerina.

"Hahaha, hey! I've got flour all over me, quit licking!" The brunette chuckled.

"Psst, princess," Fate whispered, "Is that your mother?"

Nanoha tilted her head as if it was the strangest question she had ever heard.

"Of course she is, Fate-chan."

Fate took a couple of seconds looking at Momoko and back at Nanoha, switching for a while. _Wow, the resemblance is uncanny._ She immediately wiped her hands dry of sweat and stood up from her seat.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I thought you were sisters. I'm Fate. It's nice to meet you. Now I know where Nanoha gets her looks from." She greeted as she extended her now 'clean and dry' hand.

Momoko laughed and pat Fate on the head. "It's okay, dear. You must be Nanoha's partner in her dance recital, right? I've heard a bit about you. Take a seat, take a seat."

The two of them sat down while Nanoha left to get them drinks and snacks for Arf. Just as they sat down, a voice came from the kitchen.

"Next batch of cinna-sin buns coming right up!"

A rather tall man kicked the door open, catching it with his foot right before slamming it into the wall and walked out with a whole tray filled with stacks of freshly baked buns.

"Otou-san! We still have a customer here!" Nanoha scolded.

"Sorry, love." The man apologized as he placed the new tray down, revealing a gentle pair of brown eyes and a little black hair poking out of his baking hat. He then bent down to peck his daughter on the cheek and asked, "So where do I put these?"

Nanoha pointed over to a side of the restaurant with empty shelves, "Over there," and returned to the reserved table.

"Otou-san, this is Fate-chan. She's my new friend, the one who's been helping me with my recital." Nanoha introduced Fate proudly.

Those pair of gentle eyes turned to the blonde and immediately turned cold and distant as he walked over. Fate gulped.

"Ahh, Fate. That's a really pretty name." He said, eyes still watching her like a hawk.

"T-thank you, sir. It's nice to meet you." The blonde tried to hide her fear with a not-so-natural grin.

He scanned the now intimidated girl and shook her hand. _Big dog, no leash. Hair tied, but in a mess. Strong grip. Arms and legs seem rather toned, not bad. Black and yellow track attire, big and bulky Niddas high-cut shoes. Sweaty all over, doesn't seem to bother about cleaning up. _The man sighed inwardly. _What kind of friends has Nanoha been hanging out with?_

He then looked over to Momoko, asking, 'Why is your daughter friends with such a delinquent?', which seemed to go unnoticed by his oblivious wife.

"So where are you from, Fate? Are you two girls classmates?" He let the girl sit down and asked.

"What do you do in your spare time? Do you spend most of your time studying or practicing ballet as well? Are your grades good?" He showered with more questions.

When Nanoha tried to intervene, he shushed her and turned back to poor Fate again and asked, "Most importantly, what are your intentions with my Nanoha?"

_What kind of question was that? Does awkwardness run in the family or something?_

"N-N-nothing, sir." Fate stuttered. Before she could answer the remaining questions, she was interrupted.

"Honey! What kind of questions are those! Now get back into the kitchen, it is girls' talk over here." Momoko pointed to the kitchen door.

Another awkward moment for Fate there… _Now THAT's new. I thought it was always the other way round!_

Stern brown eyes met cobalt blue. The former resigned. He knew arguing would lead nowhere, especially with his wife.

"Alright…" He sighed. Apparently satisfied with the one (or two) word reply, he smiled, though it didn't seem to meet the eye and said, "I hope my daughter's in safe and good hands then. Just didn't want her mixing around with the wrong people." And headed back to the kitchen. Just before he entered, he turned back and gave an 'I'm-watching-you' look, causing Fate to shudder.

"Honey!"

"Otou-san!"

The two Takamachis shouted across the café before Shirou finally gave in and escaped through the door.

Afraid of another awkward moment she thought might come from Momoko, Fate tried to avoid eye contact by playing with the forgotten Arf… Which ignored her as it watched the door intently, as if expecting something to come. True enough, someone did. A customer. The entrance bell rang.

"Nanoha, could you take care of that customer for me?" Momoko asked. Nanoha looked at Fate, then the customer. Her siblings had already left for the dojou, so there was no one else around. But she didn't want to leave Fate alone with her mother, especially after what had just happened. She bet her friend was traumatized, and she needed to apologize for that. Reluctantly, she nodded and went to tend to the customer.

Fate gulped. Then sweat drops started to trickle down her neck. It had been so long since she had cooled down from the race just now! She crossed her fingers and prayed hard that the woman before her was nothing like her husband. She looked around the café to avoid eye-contact from the Nanoha-look-alike and took a sip of her drink. The temperature was just right, not too hot and not too cold. It filled Fate with satisfaction to finally have something to drink, but it wasn't enough to sate her thirst at the moment. To lighten up the atmosphere, she tried to start a conversation.

"S-so… Nice place you got here, ma'am. Everything looks really neat." When her eyes accidentally met blue ones, she stopped looking around and fidgeting.

"Fate, I am terribly sorry for what just happened. Shirou's not usually like this. He's a very kind and gentle man, trust me. It's just that when it comes to Nanoha and dancing, he tends to get a bit… Upset. To be honest, Shirou and I did not approve of Nanoha enrolling into TSAB. When she did it without our consent, it enraged us to no end. Now that you've turned up, another dancer, it seems to him, that there's more external influence on Nanoha to fuel her passion to dance. And Shirou's a very stereotypical man. I hope I do not offend you, but to him, you probably look like a delinquent. The sort of person who'd pick fights, drop out of school. So I hope you understand and accept my apology. It was only up till recently did I finally come to terms with this. And it was because of you."

Third awkward silence. Fate was speechless. As she listened to the mother before her, all she could do was nod. There was so much to take in, there were so many questions. Most of them were personal, so Fate tried to repress her curiosity and refrain from asking. It wasn't right to pry into other families' issues. _But more importantly, what's wrong with dancing?_

"Ma'am-"

"Momoko, please. Don't be so reserved with me." Momoko smiled.

"Momoko-san, why are you telling me all these?"

The lady turned to look at her daughter, who was taking orders from the customer. As Nanoha confirmed the customer's order with a smile, she sighed and smiled as well.

"Well, so you see…"


	10. Chapter 9 Nanoha's Childhood

Hellooooo! :) I'm sorry I couldn't post this any sooner! Had an assignment to do, and... I'm having difficulty writing it. " Here's my reply to the reviews:

Yes, "accident"s will come sooooon. Someone most of you will probably find annoying is going to show up soon (Next chapter!), can you guess? XD As for the ball... I honestly don't know how far can one actually throw a ball. I know tennis balls can really fly and bounce pretty far. I once threw it, and... Could never find it. So... Yeah. Again, thanks for the reviews, keep them coming! :D

Chapter 9, here we go! Enjoy!

* * *

The lady turned to look at her daughter, who was taking orders from the customer. As Nanoha confirmed the customer's order with a smile, she sighed and smiled as well.

"Well, so you see…"

* * *

10 years ago…

Lights in the living room flickered to life at the touch of the switch by the door.

"Thank you for helping out again today, kids."

Momoko and her two elder children entered the house after a long, hard day at work. Ever since Shirou had been hospitalized, the two of them dropped out of school to help the family out. Every morning, Miyuki would help Momoko opening the café, while Kyouya would head down to the dojo to train the adults.

Despite their young age, the both of them were not to be taken lightly. Aged seventeen, he was already a eighth dan of the Fuwa style martial art, and had won in countless tournaments, attaining the title "Godly Twin Short Sword Master- Unbreakable Godly Style". Miyuki, however, was not as strong, but not so far off either. Adopted at the age of six, currently fifteen, just received her first dan, and was titled "Godly Twin Kodachi Style Swordswoman".

"No problem, kaa-san," the two young teens replied as they helped their mother move their leftover ingredients to the kitchen, while the matriarch dropped herself onto the sofa to take a break. Having to bake and serve customers all day long, there was no time for her to take a break, yes, not even the off-peak hours. Even then, she had to cook for her children.

Her break did not last long though, just as she was about to lay her body on the soft, warm and inviting sofa, with a cushion as a pillow to boost, she heard something.

"Oh my gosh!" A girl squealed.

"Nanoha, what are you doing?" Came a male's.

Immediately Momoko stood up and rushed over to the kitchen as well.

"What's happening? Nano… ha? "In the kitchen, she was greeted by her seven year old daughter standing on a stool, stirring a pot of what seemed like curry. She did not know whether to be furious at her daughter for doing something so dangerous alone at home, or proud her daughter was able to actually cook curry. And it actually smelled good! Even with the stool, she was barely tall enough to see the contents of the pot, for Christ's sake! But the curry smelled heavenly!

"Kaa-san, welcome home!" Nanoha smiled. The sight of her tired mother leaning by the kitchen door worried her though. The little girl slanted her head and looked at her elder siblings and mother, tiny sapphire-gems looking at them one by one, still stirring the curry. "Kaa-san? Nii-chan? Nee-chan? Is something wrong?"

The three who just came home could only stand there, speechless.

Without thinking, Miyuki made the first move. She ran around the table, snatched the ladle from her sister's hands and hugged her tightly.

"My sister is seven and knows how to cook!" She squealed.

"W-what? And you're proud of it? She's seven and she's cooking! You know how dangerous that is?" Kyouya, who had finally taken in what was before him, retorted.

"I know, but I can't help it, it was a cute sight to be welcomed home to!" She hugged Nanoha even tighter now, squeezing the air out of her.

"Can't breathe, onee-chan!" Nanoha struggled to speak in the swordswoman's grasp, which she was then released from.

"Though, I agree with Kyouya, that was dangerous, Nanoha."

"B-but, onee-chan, nobody's home and I'm hungry… And I wanted to cook something for all of you when you get back…" The little brunette looked up with those irresistible puppy eyes and tears on the verge of falling due to her lack of breath.

Momoko remained speechless. _My daughter. Seven years old. Was cooking dinner. For the family. _She looked around the house. _She even cleaned up the house. Not a speck of dust._ She inspected the shelves.

"Nanoha, did you clean up the house as well?" She asked.

"Mm! I finished homework too! Sensei said I was a good girl today!" She said proudly and continued to ramble on about her day.

* * *

Present:

"She was seven. Cleaning the house and cooking for the family was not something a seven year old should be doing. A-A- A seven year old should be at the playground after school, playing with her friends, getting scolded for not doing homework, crying after falling and getting injured. But Nanoha had none of that." Momoko shook her head. "And… That was when I realized the impact of Shirou's injury on her… Neglect."

"What's all that got to do with Nanoha and dancing?" Fate asked, taking a bite out of her cinna-sin bun, or so they called it.

"Well, after that I realized what went wrong, and Shirou and I decided to give her more attention. As soon as he was discharged, Shirou would spend more time with Nanoha at home for his rehabilitation…"

10 years ago…

Shirou slowly made his way to the sofa. Ever since he was discharged, the stubborn man refused to use his crutches and was bent on walking on his own. When he was finally able to sit, he placed a hand on the armrest and another on the seat while Nanoha gently helped him down. Once he was finally comfortably seated, the brunette ran over to the television before them and grabbed the remote control to hand over to him.

"Hurry, hurry, otou-san! Your favorite show's about to start!" the brunette said enthusiastically as she hopped onto her father's uninjured left leg. Those pair of sapphire eyes that reminded him of his dear wife looked at him, full of anticipation. He couldn't resist the urge to hug her. Just how lucky was he to have such a daughter that looked so much like his beloved. And despite not fulfilling his responsibilities as a father due to his absence, she still loved him unconditionally.

When he turned on the television, luckily, the show had yet to start, still screening a certain drama series. The man sighed. _Seriously? I've been hospitalized for a year already and THIS is still on? It's been three years since the show was screened! And it's on three hours every darn day!_

He planned to surf the channels for the next few minutes while waiting for his favorite show to start, but was stopped when he noticed how engrossed his daughter was in the show. He smiled. _Why not? It's not every day my little girl finds something she likes._

Two hours later…

The television was switched off, and Shirou, seeing as his daughter seemed to be in a daze after the show, made his way to the kitchen.

"Anything you'd like to have for dinner, Nanoha?" He asked from the kitchen as he struggled to put on his apron.

After a few seconds, he realized Nanoha didn't hear his question and asked again.

"Mm-mm, otou-san. Anything's fine!" Nanoha replied. She seemed to still be in a daze.

_Was the show today THAT interesting? I thought it was boring, actually. _Shirou merely shrugged and went on to cook dinner. _Mah, maybe she still doesn't fully understand the story. Alright, dinner dinner, curry chicken it is then!_

Soon enough, little Nanoha came into the kitchen to help out chopping the vegetables. After much reluctance, Shirou decided to teach Nanoha a little basic culinary skill so that she wouldn't think of learning on her own. After he left the girl on her own, Nanoha asked him.

"Otou-san, remember that show right before your favorite one?"

Shirou merely hummed in response as he washed the plates.

"What were the girls doing?"

"Mmm…" Shirou thought for a while to recall what was going on in that show he hated so much. "Dancing, dear. It's a form of dance called ballet."

"They looked really pretty…" Nanoha whispered to herself.

"What is it, Nanoha?" Shirou was wiping the plates now. With a towel and plate in his hand, he turned to his daughter who was still carefully chopping the carrots and making sure not to cut herself.

It seemed that Nanoha did not realize she had spoken out her thoughts as she did not expect the question.

"Oh, uh… I said they looked really pretty." She said, whispering the last part again, before resuming her chopping with great difficulty.

The brunette frowned as she watched herself chop the carrots. It was just carrots, what was taking her so long? She's seen her mother chop them before, she was so fast! Frustration began to show on her face. Shirou chuckled to the little girl's annoyance.

"Come here, let me do it." He took the knife from her and started chopping. "You liked how pretty they looked while dancing, Nanoha?"

"Yes, otou-san! She was spinning so fast, so fast! And it seemed like she would never stop! And they all jumped so high, like fairies!" Nanoha exclaimed, imitating the actors. "And then, and then, their hands looked like wings!" She waved her arms around.

* * *

"Back then, Nanoha was still so young and innocent. We thought she was actually just a curious little girl exploring the world. So we took her to an introductory ballet lesson."

"And… She actually enjoyed it?" Fate asked.

"Enjoy?" Momoko laughed. "That's an understatement. She seemed to love it! We thought it was just a phase and she'd grow tired of it, but no. That television show lit a flame of passion, and those ballet lessons merely fueled it. And that flame became so big we couldn't simply quell it anymore."

"When Nanoha turned ten, we thought it was time for her to get serious with her studies. Her grades were slightly above average, but we knew that wasn't enough to get her anywhere. So we stopped her ballet lessons. She was upset at first, but understood and listened to us. So we thought everything was alright. We were so wrong… Little did we know that our little Nanoha joined the ballet club in school."

"By the time we found out that Nanoha had still been dancing instead of studying, it was much too late…"

* * *

2 years ago…

Nanoha had just gotten home to see her whole family sitting in the living room. The atmosphere was rather tense. The television was turned off, nobody was speaking. The whole room was silent. Momoko, Miyuki and Kyouya looked at Nanoha worriedly, while Shirou merely crossed his arms.

"Nanoha." The patriarch called out.

"H-hai, otou-san?"

"Sit down, we need to have a talk."

Nanoha hurriedly walked over to the sofa and before she sat down, a certain something on the table caught her eyes. _Letters!_ She picked up the letters and looked through the pile, as if looking for one addressed to her. When she had found one, she placed the rest down to see it had already been opened. She picked out the letter and sat down to read it. _Her enrollment to TSAB had been accepted!_ _But wait, if the letters has been opened, that means…_

The auburn haired teenager scanned her surroundings to see four pairs of eyes, one furious and three worried ones, watching her. The angry one spoke up.

"What is the meaning of this, Nanoha?" His voice was monotonous, with a hint of anger.

"I-I-" Nanoha was scared out of her wits. Shirou had never been like this with her before.

"Explain to us. I thought we told you to stop dancing to start studying? Why have we received such a letter?" He raised his voice. He stared at Nanoha, who was still taken aback by the abrupt change in mood. Just moments ago, she was happily chatting with her friends on the bus, and now she was in… Deep shit.

But as expected, as a daughter of his, Nanoha steeled herself and returned the stare. Blue eyes shined with determination, she replied.

"I want to dance, otou-san."

"What?" Everyone asked. Nobody expected such a reply from her. Their little girl who always held back her wants and needs to not be a bother, was now claiming something she always wanted.

"I want to dance."

"You DO realize how much is at stake here, don't you?"

"Yes but-"

"Do you know how much you're risking? Going to an Arts School limits your future! The only possible career you will then be able to apply for is dance related! And if you want to make it big, you've got to be at the top. You know how hard is that? All we wanted for you was to go to a normal school and study. Get good grades. And get a decent job. Why was that so hard, Nanoha, why?" Shirou stood up and threw the letters on the table. He was shouting now. He couldn't take it anymore. Before he continued, Momoko pulled him down to his seat and soothed his anger, but that didn't help. Before he started again, Nanoha interrupted him.

"Yes, but I want to dance! I LOVE dancing! I know the risks, and I'm willing to take them. I know the consequences, I've thought it through. But no matter what, I just CAN'T imagine my life without dancing, otou-san!" Tears were forming at the side of Nanoha's eyes now. But even those tears seemed to reflect the girl's determination.

"Nanoha, we know you love dancing, but are you sure you want to dance for the rest of your life? People grow old, they can't dance forever. You know that. And when you no longer can, how are you going to provide for yourself?" Momoko asked, her face clearly full of concern. All she wanted was her daughter to be successful and happy. But making a career out of dancing was not easy and she knew that.

"Yes, kaa-san, I know… I know. But I want to give it a shot anyways."

* * *

"After that night, Shirou and Nanoha never spoke to each other for days. Not even during dinner. Eventually, Shirou gave in. He made a deal with Nanoha that given a year after her graduation from TSAB, and she wasn't hired by a well known company with a pay sufficient to provide her for a life time, she was to quit dancing."

Fate's jaw dropped at the last sentence. Her last bit of her cinna-sin bun fell out of her mouth, which was caught by Arf. She pouted at the loss.

"Nyahaha, Fate-chan. If you like it so much, you can have another one." Nanoha walked by. Her customer had just left and it was her turn to take a break now, while Shirou took care of the café before the dinner rush.

"No no no, I can't." Fate immediately shook her head and hands. It was tempting, but it wasn't right. Their family was running a business here. "Oh, and I MUST pay for the first bun and drink as well." She looked around herself to find herself… Without her wallet.

"… I'm sorry. Can I pay another day?" the blonde asked shyly.

Momoko laughed.

"It's alright, dear. Really. You've been a big help, it's on the house. Nanoha, could you bring another cinna-sin bun? And pack a few back for Fate and her family as well?"

"No no no, I can't, really!"

Nanoha quickly walked off singing "A bunch of cinna-sin buns coming right up~"

Fate turned back to the older lady and pouted. "Momoko-san…"

"So anyways, Fate. Although Nanoha knew I didn't like the idea of her dancing, she'd still talk to me. More than she would to Shirou, at least. And I know recently she's been struggling with her recital so I decided to give her a bit of support. But in the past few days, she seems to be… I don't know, happier. And relaxed. Just look at her."

The two of them turned to the girl picking up cinna-sin buns. Even though it was just a simple and boring task, she was smiling and humming to herself without a care in the world. As if able to sense people watching her, she turned back to look at them and laughed. "Nyahaha."

"Yeah, she looks really happy."

"Exactly. And I'm guessing it's because of you. So I'd like to thank you for helping us so much. Our Nanoha hasn't smiled like this in front of us for so long. It means a lot to us. Thank you."

Fate was on the verge of tears. She blinked them dry and sat up straight.

"Don't worry, Momoko-san. I'll take care of Nanoha. I will always be there for her, through thick and thin!" She said with pride.

That promise made Momoko sigh in relief, relieving all the tense muscles in her body. It was as if a huge burden had been lifted off of her.

A plate of cinna-sin bun and bag of them was placed before her.

"Why?" A voice came from beside her.

"Huh?" Fate turned to Nanoha, who had just brought the cinna-sin buns.

"Why are you doing so much for me?" Nanoha asked.

Even though her eyes were looking at her, Fate felt as if she wasn't. Those pair of lively blue eyes she always knew seemed so different all of a sudden. They looked… Confused. Ignoring it, the blonde simply replied.

"I like you, you're cute," She said with a smile. "I'll always take care of you, princess." She continued with a wink.

Nanoha blushed… Fate had always called her princess, but this time, it was different. This time, her heart skipped a beat. Unable to resist the urge, she tackled the blonde on her seat and hugged her.

"Thank you, Fate-chan. Thank you." _I don't know why, but what you just said meant a lot to me…_

The blonde merely stood there confused over what happened in the past few seconds. _What… Just happened..?_

She turned to the brunette across the table from her and gave a curious look. Momoko smiled knowingly and shook her head, but didn't say a word. _Kids these days… So innocent._


	11. Chapter 10 But

Alright, kill me now... It's been a while since I've updated. I'm sorry. OTL I've been busy with a lot of stuff and really really haven't had the time to touch this fic. And I know I'm far behind my plans, but I'll try my best to keep up. And I realized that keeps removing the lines I used to separate my scenes! D: So I've edited the other chapters with the scenes and apologize for the mess too. Oh, and guess who watched Step Up Revolution? ^^ Booyah! :D Now here's my reply to the reviews:

Yes, I believe the Takamachis are understanding people, but dancing as a career, realistically speaking, we all know is a dream. Shirou was just being a protective father who didn't want Nanoha to fail. Who would want to see their daughter break down over an impossible dream, right? Therefore, Shirou is still cool! :3 And well... I have to agree it IS really similar to step up... I don't like all the stories in Step Up though, I just like the dance (even though they suck :P). Oh, by the way, updates for Chapter 11 onward... Would probably take a while. Sorry! "

Ok, enough about me, apologies and reviews, enjoy! Remember, reviews please! Thank you! ;)

* * *

-Click-Thud-

Fate gave the door an extra tug to ensure that it was tightly closed before locking it. She bent down and ruffled Arf's fur then gave it a peck on its head.

"I'm home!" She greeted to nobody in particular and sighed.

With Lindy and Chrono at work, she had the whole house to herself. She could do whatever she wanted despite being 'grounded'. But at the same time, she couldn't. For some reason, ever since she left the café, her mood had been rather down. Arf seemed to notice the change in her master and tried to cheer her up. But no matter what the dog did on the way back, Fate couldn't even seem to force a smile on her face.

After taking a bath, the blonde shut herself in her room. She sat on her bed and sighed. The lights were turned off, and the curtains were drawn. Silence filled her room. The atmosphere was so gloomy, everything seemed to reflect what she was feeling. She peeked out of the window behind the curtains to get a little sunshine but only managed to get blinded by the god forsaken yellow ball of energy. She squinted her eyes and looked out of the window anyways.

_It's still so early… But I'm so tired, I want to sleep… The sky is still so bright, it's not the same blue…_

Then her thoughts drifted back to the talk she had before with Nanoha's mother. She couldn't seem to get it off her mind.

_To think princess had been under so much stress. No wonder she always seemed to be in such a rush to practice… I'd be crushed under all that pressure…_

Fate lied down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. There was so much to take in this afternoon, her mind was in a mess!

"_I'm counting on you, Fate."_

Those words that Momoko said to her right before she left seemed to echo in her head. _Can she really count on me…?_ Finally unable to tolerate the silence in her room, Fate got off the bed and picked up her phone.

-Doot-Doot-

The phone rang for a while before the receiver answered.

"Hayate in the house! Wuddup, Fate-chan?" Fate smiled. She could imagine her short friend waving an arm in the air with her hands forming the rocker sign. The only person she could count on to entertain, no, cheer her up.

"Nothing, Hayate. I'm just boooooored. Being grounded sucks!" She whined. "I wanna dance!"

"Too bad, dude. Oh, by the way, Signum asks me to tell you that, thanks to your absence, she's won quite a few battles."

"Mmm…" Fate responded. No matter how, she could not muster up the energy to come up with a retort. "Well, good for her then," she added with a chuckle.

"Hmm… Fate-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?" That question was unexpected. _Was it that obvious?_

"Uh, y-yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, you just sound really sad over the phone… If you want I can come over, you know?"

"Nah, it's alright. I'm fine, really. I'm just really really bored out of my mind and can't stand the fact that I'm perfectly fit and my body's rotting here. I. Just. Need. To. Do. Something." Fate said with a stern voice.

The blonde managed to hide her sadness. She didn't want Hayate to worry over her. Especially not when she did not even know what the problem was herself.

"Ha ha ha, Fate-chan. You sounded like you were constipating or something!" The brunette exclaimed over the phone, while trying to stop her laughter. "Alright, if anything comes up, you know you can tell us, right? We're always here for you. Just a phone call away."

"Mm, got it, Hayate." Just that was enough to lift Fate up. It is good to know there is someone there for you.

"Yeah, don't keep it all to yourself, alright? I don't expect you to tell me everything, but just whatever makes you happy."

"Got it, Hayate…" _Here we go again! _Fate quickly removed her phone from her face to sigh before bringing it back.

"Promise?" The DJ sounded excited.

"Yes…" The blonde dragged her yes, exasperatedly. Fate was getting tired now.

"Pinky-swear?" _God, what is she, a kid?! Dude, you're 17!_

Fate stared at the phone… "Yes…" and sighed.

"You're not pinky-swearing, Fate-chan, where's your pinky? Lift it up!" Hayate scolded.

"It is, Hayate, it is…"

"You're lying!" The brunette accused over the phone. Fate chuckled as she imagined her friend pouting and pointing a finger to her face. "Fate-chan liar~"

"Alright, alright, NOW it is! Happy?" Fate resisted the urge to burst out laughing at her friend's childishness.

"Yes I am~ Alright, now say this. I, Fate… Now that I think about it, I don't know your last name, Fate-chan!"

"Long story, Hayate…" Fate sighed at the thought of her last name. She hated the thought, it always brought back bad memories.

"Alright, repeat after me then. I,"

Fate rolled her eyes. After hearing what she wanted to hear, all she wanted to do was put down the phone and go back to sleep.

"I." She followed after.

"Fate."

"Fate."

"Solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"Solemnly swear I-"the blonde paused for a moment. "Wait, isn't that a spell in Harry Potter or something?" The brunette burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha! I can't believe – ha ha ha- you actually fell –ha ha- for it!" The girl over the phone was laughing so hard she couldn't even complete her sentence properly.

"Mou…" Fate pouted. "You're supposed to be entertaining me, not the other way round!"

"What am I, your clown?!"

"Didn't think like that till you mentioned it, thanks. "

"You hurt my feelings, Fate… I thought we were friends…" The DJ suddenly said softly. Fate rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time now. _Oh… Spare me…_

"We have fought battles back to back, slain dragons, conquered countries, and even travelled to the other end of the world together!" She suddenly raised her voice in a dramatic manner. "After all that we've been through, all I am… Is your jester?!" She shouted at the last sentence.

"Alright, Hayate… I wanna go sleep now. I'll catch you tomorrow, alright?"

"I'm not done ye-!"

"Alright, thanks for the entertainment, my dear comedian. Good night!" Fate ignored the brunette and hung up. A few minutes of fiddling with her phone, it vibrated to life again. A message.

Seriously, Fate-chan! Quit doing that! It's annoying! :[

Come on, I thought we were friends, am I truly just a clown to you? I know you love me, give me a hug! *hug* Ok, that was lame. Now text-five me! Just place your hand on the phone screen! *Text-five!* Reply me if you text-fived! Or you never did!

Ok jokes aside, Fate-chan. I know we've known each other for a long time, and despite that, I still know nothing about you. But I just want you to know, I'll always be here for you. Not just me, you've got the Wolkenritters. So don't keep everything to yourself, alright? The more the merrier! ;)

Your awesome DJ Hayate!

Fate tossed the phone onto the table and laid back on her bed with her hands behind her head. She chuckled to herself.

_Thank you, Hayate. You're the best friend anyone could have._

* * *

At the Midorya Café after closing…

Momoko flipped the sign to show that their café was done for the day and turned to take a good look at it after a whole day of baking. She smiled at the sight. Despite being busy all day and unable to clean up after the customers left, the place looked relatively clean. Tables were wiped clean and neatly arranged, just like they were in the morning and no chairs was misplaced. No drinks were spilled today, just bread crumbs on the floor that could be easily cleaned with a vacuum.

She then turned to the counter to see her daughter counting their profits for the day. She watched as her daughter miscalculated the receipts for the third time before intervening.

"Come on, Nanoha," She gently pushed the girl aside and took the calculator from her. "Let me help."

The shorter brunette sighed and watched as her mother counted the coins in the counter while her mind drifted away. To somewhere far, far away, to a certain someone.

"Out with it."

"Huh?" Nanoha looked at her mother _…Don't tell me I was that obvious?_

"Whatever that is on your mind. Out with it. I'm your mother after all." Momoko gave her daughter a smile.

Nanoha turned to look at the tables, as if looking for something, then her eyes moved at a particular table. One which a certain blonde had sat at.

"Kaa-san, why is it that when Fate-chan said that, my heart beat very fast?" she asked, her face filled with questions. As if pondering hard to phrase her words right, she frowned.

"Whenever I see her, my heart flutters. I get all sweaty, and my hands feel really clammy," the ballerina started to stare at her hands. _They felt so cold just now._ "And, and, and when I hugged her, everything changed. She felt so warm. I almost didn't want to let her go…" She then looked down as she placed her hands on her heart. _It was beating so fast when she was here._

The elder Takamachi laughed to herself. _Seems like this generation of kids has yet to be corrupted by the media. _After finally counting their profits, she pushed the counter shut.

"Nanoha, take tonight off. I'll clean up the café for today." She told Nanoha.

"Are you sure?"

"Go on. There's not much to clear anyways, I can handle this." Momoko said as she placed her left arm over her right and fist-pumped.

"Alright, thank you, kaa-san!" After giving her mother a small hug, she eagerly left the café and headed home.

Momoko watched as the younger brunette left the café from the front door with a 'ding-a-ling!'. She shook her head and smiled. Fate was a good girl, she could tell. All she could hope was that the blonde liked Nanoha the same way her daughter obviously did. And also, if possible, that everything would go smoothly for the two girls…

_Wait, girls… Shirou… Uh oh…_

* * *

At the Takamchi's:

Nanoha collapsed onto her bed, head first, facing left.

"Ahhhh!" She let out a deep breath before turning to face the ceiling. Her somewhat wet chestnut brown hair were sprawled over the bed, dampening her bed sheet. "Always nice to be in bed after a hot bath. Thank you, kaa-san." She spoke out loud to nobody in particular with a wide grin on her face. She then proceeded to stretch her body, enjoying the feeling of releasing the tension she never knew she had.

_Now, time to call Fate-chan…_ She picked up her phone and immediately dialed the number before hitting the call button. She had called her so often, she didn't even need her mind to recall those numbers, her hands already memorized them for her. She stared hard at the number. _Wait, what if she's busy? She IS grounded after all… Or what if she's asleep after all the chores her mom got her to do?_ … _Maybe I shouldn't call her…_ The thought brought a pout to the brunette's face. She deleted the numbers and locked her phone and just as she was about to place it by her bed, a call came in. Who could possibly call at such a time?

-Fate-

The mere sight of her name caused Nanoha to jump. Literally. "Whoa!" She dropped her towel on the floor, and immediately held her phone tightly to her ears. "H-h-hello, Fate-chan?"

"Ah, princess!" A husky voice was heard over the phone. "You free to talk?"

"Y-yeah, what's up, Fate-chan?"

"Nahh, nothing. I just couldn't sleep so I decided to call you." Nanoha looked at the clock by her wall. 5 minutes past 11.

"Miss me?" The brunette teased.

"Maybe. He-he-he. I WAS thinking of you before I slept after all." The blonde teased back.

-Ba-dub-dub-Ba-dub-

Nanoha could literally feel the heat spreading from her cheeks. "Or… Maybe not. Maybe you're the reason why I can't sleep." _That SO did not help, Fate-chan!_

"W-w-what are you saying? I-I-"

"Chillax, princess. How could you ever scare me to the point I can't sleep? You're too… too.. Un-scary!" She giggled over the phone.

"M-mou, Fate-chan!" The brunette sighed. _Don't give me false hope to cling onto… _"What kind of word is that? Un-scary?" She quickly recovered.

"Hey! It's something called 'Originality!'" The blonde retorted over the phone. Nanoha giggled, she could imagine the blonde frowning with her hands by her hips. _It was so… sexy? Really, Nanoha? Sexy?_

"Oh, by the way, princess… Lindy-san and Chrono-san loved your cinna-sin buns. When I woke up after my nap, they were all gone!"

"Lindy-san? Is that your sister?"

Silence was her reply.

The silence scared her.

"F-Fate-chan?"

"I… Have no sister." A soft voice came, almost unheard. But Nanoha didn't let it slip by. She strained her ears to listen carefully. Fate seldom spoke about her family. Or herself for that matter. "Lindy-san is my adoptive mother. Yes, I'm adopted, my parents are gone."

That confession was followed by another minute of silence. Despite being a few blocks away and on the phone, the heavy atmosphere was unbearable. Nanoha felt her heart sink as each word sunk in. Deeper and deeper. Before she could say anything, Fate picked up the conversation again.

"So, yeah. My family loved your cinna-sin buns. I was so pissed, I tell you! I was hoping to wake up to have one or two for dinner, and maybe another few for breakfast tomorrow!"

"Nyahaha, dinner and breakfast? You're going to get sick of them, Fate-chan. Besides, it's unhealthy to eat those for dinner!"

"Pshh, been there, done that, princess. I'm still alive, aren't I?" The blonde giggled. "Not to mention, with sexy hot abs unlike someone~"

"Whatever," Nanoha rolled her eyes. "It's still unhealthy!"

"Doesn't matter. As long as I'm alive and dancing, I'm happy." Fate smiled at the thought of dancing. It never failed to bring her joy. Dancing was her world. Her life.

"Mouu! And you can always drop by my café if you wanted more. We'll welcome you with open arms! Well maybe not my dad, but yeah. My mom loves you, I can tell!"

"Ha-ha, really? Alright, I'll drop by again sometime soon then."

"Mm…"

Another few minutes of silence before a yawn escaped the blonde's mouth.

"Nyahaha, guess it's bed time for you, Fate-chan, good night."

"No-yawn-oo, I want to talk to you some more…" Another yawn escaped. _Damn you, yawn!_

"We'll be seeing each other tomorrow for practice anyways, hang up!"

"Oh, alright… Good night, princess…"

"And good night to you, my lovely knight. Nyahaha."

-Click- doooooooooooooot-

After finally ensuring the line was really dead, Nanoha let out a deep sigh. _I hope she didn't catch that last part…_

After finally realizing that she had been standing on her bed, on the exact same spot, fidgeting throughout the whole call, Nanoha dropped herself to the floor to pick up her towel and hang it up by her balcony. Another sigh.

_What were you thinking, Nanoha? Lovely knight? Fate-chan, sexy? And what was all that stuttering? You sounded like an idiot! _She mentally bashed herself and leaned her head over her hand onto her balcony railings and sighed for the third time. The cold hard metal, together with the wind, sent shivers down her spine. _What was with all that heat on my face when she teased me back? I don't get it… And why was I so happy when she said she missed me?_

As if she was hit with something, Nanoha jumped out of her position, _Do I… Like Fate-chan? , _before slouching back into her previous position. _It can't be, she's a girl… A girl shouldn't like another girl… Unless… I'm a lesbian? No no no, it can't be. I'm not._

Frustrated at her night wasted on such unproductive thoughts, Nanoha walked back into her room and slammed herself onto her bed and squeezed her bolster tight. "Ahh Mouuu!" She groaned.

* * *

The next day…

"Mou… Fate-chan's late again!" Nanoha complained. Deciding to skip the morning breaking session to plan today's practice, the ballerina ended up alone at the studio practicing till it was the usual time Fate would arrive after lunch. It was just 5 minutes to two, and still no sight of her blonde. She wasn't sure why she was so eager to see Fate. Was it really for practice? Or did she miss her favorite blonde? _Her blonde? Really, Nanoha?_

Annoyed by her thoughts since last night, she took a sip of water to calm down and placed it on the floor before kicking it in a corner. She then leaned on the railings and tapped her foot to get rid of frustration.

"Don't tell me Fate-chan overslept!" She pouted. Then she heard footsteps outside the studio. She eagerly rushed to open the door to greet her favorite blonde… To be greeted by a different blonde.

By the door stood Yuuno Scrya.

"Fate-cha-, wait, Yuuno-kun?" Her wide smile was immediately flipped upside down.

Long blonde hair tied to a pony tail at the neck, falling neatly to the middle of his back, bright green eyes behind a pair of geeky looking spectacles. Sooo unlike her knight whose eyes are wine-red, without spectacles, so she could drown herself in them. Wearing just his tight white singlet underneath, showing his thin body with abs and brown shorts and black vans shoes to show his thin yet well toned body. _What is he, a girl? Revealing so much skin, isn't that what sluts do?_

"Itai, Nanoha. That smile was gorgeous and it disappeared the moment you saw me."

"What do you want, Yuuno-kun?"

"I heard you got a partner for your recital," He slowly tried to make his way into the studio, which Nanoha reluctantly allowed him to. "I thought you didn't want a partner? You DID, afterall, turn me, and all the boys who volunteered, down." He crossed his arms and leaned against the railings.

Nanoha resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was the seduction cycle all over again… Yuuno trying to act all hot and appealing to her, fail, and get rejected. She was tired of this already, really. Even if Yuuno was trying to become just her dance partner, she just couldn't do it. Nanoha could not stand the idea of dancing with Yuuno, or any male dancers, let alone actually dancing. It was tough to dance with a partner with reluctance. It was common knowledge in the dancing world. How could one possible dance honestly with so much dislike for the other? It was like trying to force like poles of two magnets to stay together. IM-POS-SI-BLE.

"I didn't. Until I realized I needed help."

"Then let ME help you, Nanoha."

"You can't, Yuuno-kun."

"Why? I'm hot, popular, and good. People love me. You'll love me. Your sponsors will love US."

Unknowing to the two dancers, behind the wall stood another blonde, leaning by the wall, listening to the conversation.

"You're different, Yuuno-kun. Besides, Fate-chan and I are doing well. There's only a few weeks left before the actual recital, I can't just ditch her and start another routine with you…"

A deep slow stab right into the blonde's heart.

"You don't have to, just let me replace her. What do you think sponsors will think, two females dancing together as the main lead?"

Fate gritted her teeth. She couldn't breathe. It felt as if every word seemed to cause the her heart to contract, hurting even more with that non-existent knife in it. _Who IS this bastard?_

Nanoha kept her mouth shut. She hadn't thought about that. Normally in ballet, it was the males would lifted the females, not another female. _Shit._

The silence told Yuuno he had won the argument. A chance!

Her fist clenched tight. If it weren't for her gloves she wore today, her palm would've been bleeding. But none of that help with her breathing.

But she couldn't just let Fate go. It was Fate.

"I-I-I'll think about it, Yuuno-kun. Thanks for your offer." She mentally flinched at the obvious lie. _Nanoha, you suck at lying! Who stutters when they're lying? It's so obvious!_

A punch to the wall, shocking the Hayate and the Wolkenritters. _It hurts. Those words hurt. Like hell._

"I sincerely hope you actually do, Nanoha… I'll see you tomorrow for your answer." Determined emerald eyes stared hard at her before leaving. If looks could kill, Nanoha would've dropped dead.

As he was about to exit through the door, he almost bumped into someone.

Golden blonde hair that fell to her knees which was tied with a black ribbon, covered with a black cap, a yellow tank top, cargo pants and the same old worn out shoes. Her usually bright red eyes seemed more dull than usual though. Behind her stood the Wolkenritters and Hayate.

"Fate-chan, everyone!" Nanoha called out.

Yuuno turned to Nanoha, eyes filled with so much joy, hands waving excitedly, he gritted his teeth behind his tightly shut lips. _So this is the famous Fate Testarossa…_

Forcing himself to smile, he held out a hand. "So you're Fate-san. I've heard about you, nice to finally meet you. Nanoha's told me about you."

Fate noticed that his smile did not meet his eyes. Green eyes, filled with anger, just like… hers… Eyes that were trying their best to pierce through her soul. But Fate held her ground and stared back. As a Testarossa, she could never back down from a challenge. Especially not a rival.

Sensing the tension, Nanoha slowly lowered her hand to her heart in worry of what could happen, while the Wolkenritters tried their best to prevent their dear Hayate from interfering at the back.

Ignoring the raccoon-looking clown behind her, begrudgingly, the streetdancer shook his hand. "Yes, and you are…?"

"Yuuno. Yuuno Scrya."

"Well, I'm sorry I've never heard about you. But it's nice meeting you, Yuuno-kun." She faked a smile, which failed, revealing a small smirk causing her cheeks to twitch.

"Mind if I watch you guys practice?"


	12. Chapter 11 Sapphire, Ruby… and Emerald?

Alright, hello I'm back again! :) I hope you guys enjoyed the previous chapter... Probably not though, judging from the reviews, you guys didn't seem to like the new character I 'introduced'. Oh, truth is, I had this chapter and the next completed a while ago already, but... I wasn't sure whether to post it or not. Just decided to anyways. :P As for chapter 12, I'm not satisfied with what I've got so far... So I decided that I'll write based on what you guys think of this chapter and how you want it to end. I'll counting on your reviews to write/re-write it, so keep them coming! Here's to my reviewers:

First off... I could never understand why everyone hates the poor ferret boy so much. Sure, I dislike him, but you guys sound like you want him dead. o.o Poor boy. As for the romance, sorry, but I plan to take it slow. Our dense couples would be dancing around each other (metaphorically and literally XD) until much much muuuuuch later. And YES Hayate is awesome! :D But I feel like I'm giving her too little action, so.. Any ideas? ^^ Lastly, what was stupid..?

I've been told my characters are a little OOC. I know I can't totally avoid this issue, but I'm trying my best to. I didn't plan to post this chapter today, but I just needed some help for chapter 12 and hope to get it done by end of this week, so if you guys spot anything OOC AND IDEAS, I'm all ears! And before I go, I just want you guys to know... I have an exam in 3 days, and after that, I'll be free for a week or 2 to write(Wheee!) So... ;) I'm sure you know what this means by now. If not, reviews and ideas please! Let's not waste this 7-14 days! Enjoy! :D

* * *

"Mind if I watch you guys practice?"

…

"Sure." As much as she hated to, Fate refused to back down. Despite just meeting Yuuno, for some reason, she had this nagging feeling that he was nothing but bad luck. Not attracting bad luck, but he was bad luck himself.

The next few minutes were spent preparing for the dance. After placing their bags by the corner and playing their warm up songs, Fate and the rest started stretching while Nanoha joined in. It was practice after all.

Practice went smoother than expected. After an introduction with the rest, the whole studio was silent except for the footsteps and music. With Yuuno around, the atmosphere was so tense, everyone thought a fight would've broken out or worse. Hayate even thought the scrawny guy would've left injured. When he left in the middle of it, Vita broke the silence.

"Wow, -pant- Fate. I'm surprised -pant- you allowed -pant- him to leave clean. You looked like -pant- you were about -pant- to kill him."

"Dude,-pant- it's -pant- not my fault -pant- he -pant- looked like -pant- he wanted to be -pant-killed!" Fate tried to reply with all the air she could get.

"Hey, practice today wasn't so hard, quit acting like you're dying!" Nanoha joined in, as she sat by the blonde's side and giving the blonde a 'pat' on the stomach, causing her to sit up.

"Ouch, princess! Violence!" She held onto her stomach.

"Sorry, Fate-chan! I didn't mean to-" Nanoha tried to sooth the girl by rubbing her back, which didn't help at all. Blue eyes filled with worry.

"Ooooooh, the White Devil strikes!" Hayate whispered, causing everyone to break into a laughter.

"Not funny, that hurt, really!" Fate yelled at Hayate. _Though thanks. Trust you to lighten the atmosphere._

"Are you ok?" Nanoha asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"Um, can I speak with you privately for a moment?"

"Uhh.. Sure."

"Oooooohh, make out session, make out session!" Hayate shouted. "I want in too!" Unfortunately, she was held back by Signum, who dragged her to sit by Vita's side.

"Watch her, Vita."

"Gotcha."

Hayate pouted at Signum, in hopes of getting out of Vita's care, which was ignored as Signum walked over to the door to guard it. Darn it, when Signum's not dancing, she sure is strict.

"So… Who was that ferret looking guy, Hayate?" Vita asked.

"Hmm?"

* * *

"So… What was it you wanted to talk about, princess?" Fate leaned by the door as soon as they exited the studio.

"Fate-chan, is something the matter?"

"Huh?" That caught her by surprise.

"You seem different today… I don't know how to say it, but your dancing isn't up to your usual standards. You seem… I don't know… Sad?" Nanoha fidgeted as she explained. To her, Fate's dull eyes seemed sad enough, she didn't want them filled with more sadness than it already did.

"Sad?" _Shit. Am I THAT obvious?_

Nanoha merely nodded.

"Nah, it's nothing…" Fate lowered her head and covered her eyes, as she recalled the conversation just a while ago. Just the thought of it pained her wounded heart. _Why?_

Nanoha decided not to question further and patted Fate on her shoulder. "I don't know what's bothering you, but I'd be more than glad to be a listening ear, Fate-chan. Take a break for now, I'll practice with Signum and the rest."

Fate wasn't expecting that. She looked up to see gentle blue eyes filled with concern. The girl before her wasn't mad with her dancing. The girl before her was smiling. _Why is she smiling? I didn't do a good job. _Fate moved her hand to her chest. _It's so… funny. _And another to touch the brunette's face. _Why does this smile do this to me?_ She stared blankly into Nanoha's eyes, her own dull maroon eyes, as if they had their life sucked out of them, full of questions. She opened her mouth. Those questions were just on the tip of her tongue, when…

"BWAHAHAHAHAA!"

The door swung open and all eyes turned to a midget and raccoon rolling on the floor. "…What just happened?" The two asked at the same time.

Signum merely shrugged, while Zafira continued listening to his ipod, ignoring his surroundings.

"Ha, ha, Vita-ha-chan, thought-"

"Wait, Hayate. Take a deeeeeeep breath, stop laughing, and then talk." Fate instructed as she pulled the brunette up to a sitting position and sat before her. "What's so funny?"

Hayate did as she was told and finally stopped. But as soon as she looked at Fate, she burst out laughing again. _Fate reminds me of the ferret! _She just couldn't stop laughing!

Fate sighed and turned to Vita, who was… almost dying from her own laughter. Nanoha grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to the two girls. As soon as they were out of breath, they explained what was so funny.

"Vita-chan asked who was the ferret looking guy, and I didn't know who she was talking about, so I asked. And she said it was that male blondie from before!"

Vita choked and spat out the water in her mouth before countering, "Hey, you gotta admit, he DID look like a ferret! Hell, he's scrawny too, just like those you see in those pet shops!"

"Yuuno-kun?" Fate asked. Just mentioning the green eyed ferret's name seemed to leave a sour taste on the tip of her tongue. She rolled her tongue a few times to get rid of the awful taste but to no avail. She then picked up a bottle of water and chugged down its contents. "I guess he DOES look like one…" _One that she wanted dead._

Fate didn't hate animals, in fact, she loved them. But that was one particular animal she was starting to dislike.

"Hey now, don't be mean. Yuuno-kun's a friend, guys." Nanoha spoke up. If she didn't, things might go out of hand.

"Ooh, just a friend, Nantoka?" Vita smirked.

_Just a friend. They're just friends, Fate. What about us? …Wait, us?_

"Yep," the brunette deadpanned. With a clap, she gained everyone else's attention. "Now let's get back to work guys! Fate-chan, take a break, alright?"

Groans and complains echoed in the room. Fate walked over to sit beside Hayate.

"Psst, what's up? You never took extra breaks." Hayate whispered.

"Nothing," the blonde replied.

"Something happened outside?"

The blonde didn't reply.

No matter how many times she tried to forget, it seemed like fate was fooling around with Fate. Why did everything or everyone seem to remind her of what happened earlier? Why did it hurt so much? All the blonde could do was to clench her fist and tolerate it. She felt like dying.

_Who is Yuuno? Why did ferret boy's words hurt so much? Why am I so angry with him? Why do I hate him?_

The answer was simple. He was her rival. _Rival in what?_

Her thoughts were cut off when she was shaken back to reality by Hayate. "Fate-chan! You're scratching yourself, stop it!"

She looked down at herself. Her chest was red, full of scratch marks of her own. She hadn't been just clenching her fist tight, she had been scratching herself at the same time. Embarrassed, she took off, ignoring all the weird looks and shouts directed at her.

Nanoha looked at Hayate worriedly. "What happened?"

"… I don't know, but we better go look for her."

* * *

At the bridge near her favorite shelter…

The sun inched its way down, as if hiding behind the endless blue. The sky filled with a mixture of yellow, orange and purplish gray, while the sea reflected black and blue. It was a beautiful sight. Fate sat on the bridge's railing and stared into the sea. She took a deep breath and inhaled the salty scent. Wonderful. Despite the view, she couldn't empty her mind of worries. _Worries? Over what?_

She then recalled the highlight of the day.

"_There's only a few weeks left before the actual recital, I can't just ditch her and start another routine with you…"_

"_What do you think sponsors will think, two females dancing together as the main lead?"_

""_I-I-I'll think about it, Yuuno-kun. Thanks for your offer."_

… _Was a dance partner all I am to you, Nanoha? And a bad one while at it? Wait, why am I even upset about being just a dance partner, what were you thinking, Fate?_ She shut her eyes and slapped both of her temples twice.

_Just… What was I expecting? Nanoha… _The blonde then looked down at her chest. The scratch marks were gone, all that was left was a bit of warmth. _Why, Nanoha? Why? For some reason, just seeing you with that ferret makes it hurt so much here? Nanoha…_

A strong wind blew. Golden tresses followed along, annoying the girl. After a few attempts of finger combing her hair, Fate decided to put on her cap… To realize that she left it back in the studio. _Damn._

"chi-chak!"

"Eh?" Fate turned to the origin of the voice. There stood a brunette, holding up her hands in a rectangular shape. She winked at the blonde, with only one eye visible through the space between her fingers.

"Nyahaha, too bad I don't have a camera with me, that would've been a perfect picture. You looked like a fallen angel, Fate-chan." Nanoha walked over to said girl.

"N-n-nanoha," Fate stuttered, not expecting such a compliment. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, of course." The ballerina then tried to climb the railing. "After you ran off, everyone went looking for you. I thought you'd be here so here I am!" After a few attempts, she gave up, out of breath. "How do you climb this?!"

Fate chuckled at the brunette's cuteness. _Cuteness, Fate? _ She then questioned herself if she meant it the same way as she did before. Everything about this brunette felt so different all of a sudden, she just couldn't cope with it.

"Simple," She turned around to land on the bridge. "Like this." And lifted herself back up as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Nanoha tried again and gave up after the umpteenth time. "I can't do it! Mou, I give up!" She crossed her arms, leaned onto the railings and pouted. "So why are YOU here?"

"… I don't know. I just couldn't stand being there, I guess."

"What's wrong with the studio? Was it too cold? Or was it too small? I thought it was big enough! Should I tell Graham-sensei so we can get a bigger studio? Or how about-"Before the brunette could continue her non-stop rambling, Fate cut her off.

"Ha ha, it's alright, princess. It's just that that… Yuuno-kun guy seemed to get on my nerves and I couldn't tolerate being in the same studio as he did. I don't know why." Fate resisted the urge to spit into the sea after mentioning his name. _It would've polluted the sea, ruining its beauty._

"Wow, that's a surprise. Really. Everyone in school loves him." Nanoha giggled at the thought of all the girls swooning over her male friend.

"Oh? I don't like him. Especially the way he spoke to you." A growl nearly escaped her throat this time.

"You heard?" Nanoha asked with a hint of guilt. It was soft, but Fate caught it. She didn't mean to overhear it, and she knew Nanoha obviously hoped she didn't either.

"Yeah…"

A moment of silence passed before Nanoha broke it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No no, it's ok. After all, I'm… A girl. And he's a guy, talented, good looking." _According to everyone else in school. To me he's still a ferret. _"And… I'm just… Me. Just Fate. Nothing special. Pshh, I'm not even a student of the school!" She tried to lighten the atmosphere with a fake laugh.

"But Fate-chan's beautiful!" That earned the blonde a glare and a splash of red paint over her face.

"I-I'm not," Embarrassed, she turned back to the sea. "Point is, if you want to partner up with ferret boy, I'm fine with it. Besides, he should be able to learn the routine fast enough. They weren't too hard for me. It should be a piece of cake for him." _Though I hope he falls more while learning them than I did._

"FATE-CHAN!" Before said girl could turn to look at the brunette, an arm was swung towards her back. A wide swing, quick, and hard.

-Bam!-

"PRINCESS!" turns out, the girl wasn't holding onto the railing. Fate thanked whatever entity out there for her naturally quick reflexes. Nanoha turned to see her forbidden crush clinging tightly onto the railings with one hand as if her life depended on it.

"Fate-chan, what're you doing?!" She reached out her hand to Fate and pulled as hard as she could.

"Phew, that was a close call." After finally regaining her bearings, the blonde fell onto her knees, panting. "First of all, THAT HURT!" She yelled, pointing indignantly. "Secondly, you pushed me, that's why I was falling, what'd you think? I was dancing?"

"Nyahaha, sorry. I knew it was dangerous." The brunette sweatdropped.

"What was that for? It really hurt, you know? I almost thought my heart was jumping out of my throat. Like, like, like my bones were about to shatter to pieces!"

"That's exaggerating! It was for those pessimistic thoughts!"

Fate looked at brunette, questions seemed to fill her mind. _Pessimistic? I was being realistic here, hello?_

"I asked you to be my partner for a reason, Fate-chan. When I first saw you, I wanted you, no. I knew I needed you. Your dancing was the best I've ever seen. Either than those on tv, of course. Those don't count though. Nyahaha."

All Fate could do was listen. She was speechless.

"_I wanted you, no. I knew I needed you. Needed you. Needed you." _ It just kept echoing in her head. She was needed for her recital.

_That's good… Right? _It probably wasn't the sort of need she hoped, but it was better than nothing. She hadn't felt needed in so long. For once, she wasn't useless.

"_Needed you. Needed you. Needed you…"_

… _Wait a moment, there were different sort of needs? Just WHAT was it that I'm hoping for?_

"Uh, thanks, I guess." Fate thanked, scratching her cheek, not knowing what to say. "But… I'm a girl."

Nanoha seemed to mumble something which the blonde didn't catch before turning to look at her in the eye full of seriousness. "It's ok, Fate-chan. I'd rather dance with a girl than a guy."

_Rather a girl than a guy. _Fate's heart fluttered at the thought.

After a while of processing Nanoha's words, Fate smiled. A real honest one this time. She stood up and asked, "Wanna go?"

Glad she was finally able to knock (whack) some sense into that thick skulls of hers, Nanoha nodded with a wide grin on her face. "Mn! But the school's probably closed by now, so we can only get our stuff tomorrow."

"That's ok, my bag's hardly worth anything anyways." The blonde laughed. "It's late already, let's go!" Without any warning, she lifted the brunette on her back and ran.

"Fa-Fate-chan, warn me next time!"

"Don't want to~" Fate sang. Her voice full of joy, her laughter full of happiness.

_That's it, Fate-chan. Keep it like that. You don't know how much your smile, your laughter, everything means to me… But… you're a girl…_

* * *

The next day during the break…

-Knock-knock-

Everybody, still tired, laid on the floor, and could only stare at the door. Who could it be? Hayate walked over to open and welcomed the newcomer in. Sensing that they weren't needed, she dragged her cousins out.

Hayate had met all the requirements of starting a career as a comedian. Humor, energy, acting skills, even the materials! Being a huge fan of cosplay, she enjoyed dressing up to make people laugh, cracking jokes and teasing people to see smiles on the faces of people she cared about. No matter where or when, she would do her best to do so. But Hayate was smart. She understood that there was always a time and place for everything. And now was not the time for jokes. With the hateful glare Fate sent their newcomer's way, she knew even her friends wouldn't appreciate her messing around either.

As soon as everyone except for two blondes and a brunette was out, she called Signum.

"Psst, I'm going to take a walk, just give me a text when it's over alright?" She whispered to Signum before running off.

"Tell her you love her for me, Hayate-chan!" Vita shouted as she waved at the shrinking figure.

Just before the short brunette disappeared, she shouted back, "Love who?"

Everyone laughed as soon as they were sure their genius of a cousin was out of earshot. _Denial, sometimes seeing a prodigy like her acting like that over a crush or love was hilarious._

_Woohoo, a chance to look for Rein-chan! _Hayate smiled to herself at the thought of her beauty queen. She had been crushing on said teacher for so long, and after nights of worrying about her getting stolen, Hayate finally decided to take the first step. _Become friends._

" 'Love who' she says," Vita said in between her laughs.

Zafira smiled at his cousin's innocence. To him, even if it's a one-sided love, he still supported his younger cousin. But if she ever got hurt, he promised himself that he would be there for her no matter what. They're family after all.

"Now, now, Vita. It's not nice to tease people about their love lives." Shamal said with a smile, obviously trying to hold back her laughter.

"But look at her! And Rein-sensei obviously likes her back!" The red haired girl yelled.

"I like who back?" A voice came from behind them.

… It was Signum's turn to laugh this time.

"I'm waiting for my reply, Nanoha." He said as he closed the door. Fate, not liking the disrespect the other blonde was showing to her, glared at him, in an attempt to convey how unwelcome he was… To her that is. Too bad it was ignored as well as her presence.

The Wolkenritters knew something was wrong

"No, Yuuno-kun."

"Pardon?"

"No. My answer is no." Sapphire eyes filled with determination stared right into emeralds.

"Why, Nanoha? What about all that I've said?" Yuuno's voice sounded desperate. "What about your sponsors? Aren't you worried?" He spread his arms out and questioned further.

"Am I not good enough for you? And… and you think this girl is better than me?" Worry was clear in his eyes, but Fate ignored it. Finally unable to take it anymore, she stood up in front of Yuuno from her lying position. Faces just inches away, she stared right into the male's eyes. Right into his soul. Sending shivers down ferret boy's spine.

"And you think YOU'RE better than me?" She challenged.

"S-so what if I do?" He tried to hide his stutter, which of course, failed.

"Tomorrow, 9am, haunted parking lot. We'll see who's the boss." The streetdancer narrowed her eyes. The girl was seldom one who sent battle invitations. Due to her fame, she was usually the one who was spammed with them. Texts, graffiti, even the simple gestures. It wasn't that she was notoriously hated, Fate was well respected in the world of street dancing, especially in Uminari… And back there and then as well.

"Challenge accepted," Yuuno leaned back and crossed his arms. Despite being scared, he kept a strong front. Fate liked that. Her respect for this man rose though only a little. It was one of those things, she thought, that were required to be a man. "I'll be there."

_Guess those things in between his legs aren't just there for display after all. _She smirked.

"I'll see you then," She picked up her bag and cap and walked towards the door. "You too, princess. You HAVE to be there." And left.

After hearing footsteps outside the studio getting softer, Yuuno turned to the brunette who had been quiet for a while now, despite his reason for being here.

"Princess?" He raised an eyebrow.

Nanoha scratched her cheeks and giggled. "Nyahaha, don't look at me."


	13. Chapter 12 The Battle

... I know I said to make full use of the 2 weeks... OTL I'm sorry I was so excited that day I forgot I still had work and school even after the exams. Not to mention the workouts I've been trying out lately, I'm soooo tired! DX So anyways, I'm not so happy about the outcome of this chapter, I kind of got lost halfway in what I was writing so... Yeah. It was re-written once or twice, but I'm still not satisfied. :T But I think it's the best I could do at that point of time and I honestly don't want to re-write a third time so I hope you guys like this one! Don't worry though, it's still according to plan! :)

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A rest in Hayate's vacation house sounds good. I remember I thought of something along those lines, but... Right now, it's not there. Sorry. XD And FYI guys, Yuuno doesn't think he's the best... He just think he's better just because he's a male. And yes, I know it was a little weird to add a little HayatexReinforce moment there, but I felt like I had to. It didn't feel right to just ditch that poor girl there, loveless. OTL A club dancing scene.. *Imagines them dancing* Maybe. Hehee. Sorry, I'm not familiar with "Flashdance" and "Drumline". I even looked them up, but couldn't find where to watch them. Was hoping for a little inspiration. :( And you're wrong, tango's not going to be in the recital. XD Fate's past won't be revealed until much later, unfortunately. Need to keep the suspense there, even I'M dying to know! LOL. And as for the questions about the battle, here it is!

Again, reviews are very much welcomed. Thank you!

* * *

"I like who back?" A voice came from behind them.

… It was Signum's turn to laugh this time.

…

While Signum tried her best to stifle her laughter, the rest stood still with their jaws slacked.

_Just what kind of luck did their poor cousin have? As soon as she left, her crush decides to drop by. And not only that, she even overheard their conversation!_

"N-no-nobody, Rein-san!" Vita yelled, waving her hands in and out of a cross frantically.

"So… What brings you here, Rein-san?" Signum inquired.

"Oh, we were just hoping to watch you guys practice, since Suzuka and Arisa are already done for the day. What about the four of you? Why are you guys standing outside? Is Fate in there?" A deep voice answered.

"Uhh… We're not entirely sure why either… Hayate just dragged us out." Vita replied.

"Oh, Hayate?" As soon as the quiet girl heard said girl's name, she seemed to perk up.

"Yeah, she just left moments ago though." Upon hearing that, Rein's somewhat energetic look returned to its dull, original state. She sighed, causing the rest to giggle.

"So… Can we go in?" Chrono asked.

As if on cue, Fate opened the door to the studio and rushed off, ignoring the looks, as well as her brother's unexpected presence.

Soon after, another blonde followed after. He glanced at everyone waiting outside and barked, "What are you looking at?" Before stomping off.

"… Wow, angsty much?" Vita said as she glared at the ferret looking boy that just left.

"What just happened?" Signum finally spoke up.

"Nyahaha, it's a little… complicated… I think." Nanoha scratched her cheeks again. She had been speechless for the past few minutes and explaining the situation wasn't going to be easy.

"All you guys gotta know is… We can't practice today… Again… Sorry…" Her words seemed to make her realize her actual situation. She sighed. First, they wasted yesterday's practice session because Fate ran off. Now, this. _Why did Yuuno-kun even bother? Especially now of all times? We have only four months left till the recital, there's no time to lose!_

Disappointed, the brunette hung her head low as she packed her bags and left as well, leaving the Wolkenritters and teachers lost. They stood there for a couple of seconds before Vita spoke up again. "So… Can we go home now?"

"No, we gotta wait for Haya- Oww!" Signum shouted. "What was that for?!" She rubbed her hips and glared at the girl beside her, Shamal.

"Whatever are you talking about, Signum? Oh, you're hurt! We gotta apply some ointment!" The short haired blonde replied with an overly-exaggerated worried voice. "Vita, Zafira, why don't you pack up now? Rein-san, Chrono-san, could you tell Hayate we've left already? I've got dinner to cook." Shamal turned to the rest with a bright, cunning smile.

"Oh I've got to go too, now that you've mentioned dinner. Kaa-san's not coming home early today, and Amy plans to take over, so I've got watch. Sorry, Rein!" Chrono look at his watch and left the studio hurriedly.

"Sure, I'll wait here for her to return." Rein said as she took a bow. "I'll see all of you next time, then."

Eventually, Rein was left alone in the studio. Realizing she had a studio to herself, she shut the door close and walked over to lean on a bar handle. Replaying a tune in her head, she counted the beat and took a deep breath…

-Bam-

"-pant- I -pant- Couldn't -pant- find -pant- Rein-chan!" Hayate whined between her pants as she slowly fell from leaning on the door to the floor.

Rein stared at the adorable brunette lying before her. If only she had a camera to take a picture of her right now… She walked up to pick the girl up. "You were looking for me, Hayate?"

Tired blue orbs looked up to meet dull red ones. The owner of the former jumped back and scrambled to the corner of the room, flabbergasted. _What is SHE doing here? Run, Hayate, run!_

"R-r-rein-chan!" She then looked around the studio to find her cousins missing. And Nanoha-chan! And Fate-chan! _Holy moly!_

"W-w-where's everyone?"

Rein smiled. "Your cousins have left to cook dinner, and… Nanoha and Fate though, I'm not quite sure. Seems like there's a bit of problem. Are you ok?" _Left to cook dinner? …Shamal..! _

"Ok?!" Hayate, still shocked, did not know how to respond. _Alright, calm down, Hayate. It's a chance Shamal gave you. Be smooth. SMOOTH! Go!_

She took a deep breath, and let it out before speaking up again. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that your beauty t-t-took my breath away." Hayate mentally slapped herself. _The fudge, Hayate?_

Rein merely smiled again. "Hayate… Do you remember your own recital?"

_Where is this going? _Hayate wondered. She then shrugged it off, considering herself lucky for Rein just giggling instead of bursting out into laughter. Should anyone on the streets hear about this, she wouldn't have the guts to leave her house anymore!

She carefully processed all her possible replies before replying "Ya..?"

_That. Is. Pathetic, Hayate. _She mentally slapped herself.

"Did you know I was watching?"

"Of course I knew! You wore the most elegant and beautiful dress I've ever seen. It hugged your body oh-so-perfectly, you practically had me drooling!" The brunette immediately responded with much enthusiasm… Too much. Upon realizing her accidental revelation of her not-so-secret-crush on the teacher, she covered her mouth tightly with both her hands.

"You flatter me, Hayate." The white haired lady walked over to give the embarrassed brunette a pat. "The one that was perfect that day was you. You were wonderful."

"I-I was?"

"Yes, I still remember. You were wearing a beret with a ribbon at the back, along with your usual pink and yellow clips like today. And you wore a tight black dress with straight yellow lines, covered with a short white jacket." Rein looked up at the lights and recalled the very day the petite angel beside her stole her heart. It was love at first sight. "And when you started to play that piano of yours, I cried. It was a beautiful piece, Hayate. You looked like an angelic musician." She looked back down and smiled a smile just for Hayate.

Hayate opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her face turned into an embarrassed pinkish hue. Feeling the heat coming up her cheeks, she turned away.

_She remembered what I wore? I can't even remember!_ She squealed inwardly. _And me? An angel?_

"You're the angel, Rein-chan!" She retorted, face still as red as a tomato. "And my piece wasn't THAT good… I made that up on the spot." She added on with a shrug confidently, feeling the temperature dropping.

"What is the piece called?"

Just then, the brunette's phone rang.

"Hello? Hayate speaking. Dinner? Ohh. N-n-noo, Vita-chan! Alright, alright, I'm coming home! And no, I'm not!"

The short brunette turned around to stand in front of her crush. "Sorry, I gotta go now, Rein-chan. I'll tell you another time!" she said before running off. As she ran off, she mentally thanked Vita's bad timing as now she had a reason to talk to Rein-chan instead of starting out awkwardly like before!

* * *

Hayate wiped off the sweatdrops blurring her sight. Still giddy from what happened yesterday, the brunette shook herself out of her reverie. _Focus, Hayate. You've got a crowd to take charge of here!_

The crowd's cheers echoed in the parking lot. Very little sun entered the huge white rectangle on the floor, blocked by everyone surrounding it. Despite being hooligans, everyone seemed to have the decency to keep behind the thin white line between the audience and the fighters.

"Are you ready, everyone?!" she shouted onto the microphone.

"READY!" The crowd shouted back.

The two blondes stared at each other, the crowd momentarily ignored. Green eyes looked into red ones. The former filled with uncertainty and fear while the other filled with confidence and anger. Looking into the latter's eyes was plain scary, no, terrifying. It was as if staring right into the depth of hell, like the devil was patiently waiting… Waiting… For his death. Yuuno shuddered at the thought of what kind of beast he had awakened and regretted provoking it despite its warnings. The blonde obviously planned to humiliate him! Not to mention the crowd!

_Wait a moment, Scrya! You're not going to lose to a girl! Even if hip-hop or whatever isn't your forte, you can do this! _He slapped himself out of his pessimistic thoughts and glared back at the streetdancer.

"Dancers, ready?!" The DJ shouted, replied with two nods.

"Alright then! Let the battle begin!" The DJ started scratching the audio before the song began. The crowd hollered in excitement for the dancers 'on stage' to start.

Fate took a sip of water and placed the bottle down.

"Girl you know, I'm a funky man~ I'm a real funky lover, yea-eah-eah!"

Just beside Hayate and her speakers stood Nanoha and the Wolkenritters. Nanoha sighed at the sight of the two blondes. She wasn't sure what to think!

_Just what was Fate thinking, challenging Yuuno to a battle… A street one too… Not to mention intentionally choosing this place for it. Obviously she'd have the upper hand! And Yuuno-kun, could you be any dumber? I thought you were smarter than this… You obviously can't beat her, think a little! _Nanoha let out a deep sigh.

"Worried, Takamachi?" a stoic voice broke Nanoha out of her thoughts.

Said girl turned to see Signum leaning by the speakers. Despite it being a one-sided battle, the teenager kept her eyes focused on the battle that was about to begin. The pink haired teen uncrossed her arms and ruffled the brunette's hair. "I understand why you're feeling like that. Let it go. A battle is more than just dancing." It was subtle, but her voice held a little concern for the shorter girl. Although the brunette was someone new to her, Hayate or Fate's friends are her friends. Should anything happen to them, she'd do her best to take care of it. That's that.

A smile slowly spread across the brunette's face. Still new to the world of street dancing, she may not have quite understood everything about it, but she was willing to learn. Her worries now forgotten, she turned back to watch the battle.

To everybody's surprise, Fate started first, which gave her rival more time to prepare for his grand humiliation. The blonde smirked.

_Oh, what has Yuuno-kun gotten himself into?_ Nanoha shook her head as she watched the former start her turn, eyes filled with pride, confidence and as if she was trying to hide it, joy. The brunette giggled at the blonde. Whenever it came to dancing, that girl was like a child, really. Always unable to hide her excitement. It was a childish side of Fate that Nanoha found adorable. _Adorable…_

Signum's eyes followed Fate's every movement, memorizing them so that she could never use them to smoke her again. While watching, she noticed something. Fate… Was using the very same dance moves she played against Signum on their first battle… Which meant Fate was repeating moves… Fate never repeated moves… Disappointment was clear in her eyes. She never expected her rival to repeat. Never, since they met, has she seen Fate ever repeated her routines. However, the pinkette smirked. Fate was running out of moves… Or her mind just wasn't into the battle.

* * *

2 years ago…

It was another one of those dark gloomy days. Depressing looking clouds were gathered above the town of Uminari, waiting for the appropriate time to let their tears fall. Everyone was either running for shelter or rushing home in hopes of not getting wet. However, their hopes of remaining dry were quickly squashed by a flash of yellow light followed by a roar. As if it was the 'go' signal, the sky started pouring. And everyone started running faster.

Everyone except for a girl. In a certain part of Uminari, a fifteen year old blonde girl danced. Under the rain. Despite living in the city for the past five months, she was still new and unfamiliar with the city. Fate was lost. Not that she was upset about it anyways. It was her first time finally being able to explore the city.

Ignoring the rain splashing everywhere, causing the floor to become slippery, Fate danced on. Her mind was in such a mess, she didn't know what to do, she didn't know where to go. All she knew was that she didn't want to go home. She couldn't. It wasn't home.

_There's not enough money… You can do better than this, Fate. A little rain isn't going to affect today's money. It can't! _She thought as she danced. Beats blasting through her earpiece, drowning out her surrounding, the blonde danced her heart out, putting all of her energy into every move. The rain made all her clothes heavier, she became slower, but she didn't care. She needed money!

As she made the biggest and hardest stomp she ever could make, Fate swung her body forward so hard her earpiece fell out.

_Killed it. _She smiled inwardly as she stood up from her almost kneeling position. The music ended as she made that last move, and her earpiece falling out at the exact same time. It was perfect, like a scene out of a movie where everything happened at the same time.

After a moment of catching her breath, the blonde finally noticed a shadow before her. She looked up. Another teenage girl that looked slightly older than her. Drenched pink hair tied in a ponytail, her eyes closed. The stranger wiped her face seemingly in disgust, just enough for her to open her eyes.

"Sorry…?" The blonde flinched instinctively, realizing she had splashed water onto her audience's face unintentionally and held her hands in front of her face to protect herself. Moments ticked by but nothing came. She peeked through her hands. The girl before her stood speechless, face void of emotions, but her eyes told her everything. Shining blue eyes holding not even a hint of anger, but filled with anticipation. _What does she want?_

* * *

Signum had just finished another battle by the haunted parking lot. Every time she left the building, she would get the stares, considering the rumors about the area. She chuckled to herself, knowing there were no ghosts or whatsoever, just Hayate and her antics. Her cousin, who recently started out making costumes, made them Halloween costumes, and blackmailed her and her siblings into wearing them despite it being the start of the year. Being in a dark and isolated parking lot, the costumes, despite being really revealing, with makeup, scared quite the number of kids who hung around the parking lot. Ever since then, it had been known as the 'haunted parking lot' in the city. The streetdancers knew better though. That day, however, she noticed nobody was even around in the city. Everyone seemed to be in a rush, or covering their heads.

The pink haired teenager looked up.

-pit-

A drop fell right onto the tip of her nose. _Ahh, rain. _Signum loved the rain. A smile slowly spread across her face, as she enjoyed the water soaking her clothes, feeling the dampness. Her moment of peace was short-lived though, interrupted by a voice from behind.

"SIGNUM!" She turned around. _Uh oh…_

"I told you it was raining, you're supposed to be running home!" Shamal shouted from behind, preparing herself and the rest for the sprint home.

"Sorry!"

"Don't just stand there, run!" With that said, she dashed past her younger sister and made her way home. "Hurry or you'll fall sick!"

Signum smiled at the motherly figure and chased after her. "Coming!"

Somewhere along the way, she found Fate. Being a blonde, and the only one (or few people) along the road, the blonde was not hard to notice. Not to mention her dancing instead of running made her stand out even more. The teenager stopped her dance as she noticed how swift the younger girl moved. Despite being drenched under the rain, her hair all over the place, the girl seemed to still know how to move in such a manner she could still dance her best. Not to mention her feet. Dancing on such slippery floor was courting death. It was either her worn out shoes had magic, or this girl was a pretty good dancer. Signum decided it was the latter. _A pretty talented one, I must say._

Unknowingly, her body moved on its own, and made its way to the blonde. As she stood in front of her, just in time, Fate made the big stomp, splashing water onto… her face. Signum was speechless.

"Battle me." She didn't even know those words came out of her until she heard them exit her mouth.

"H-huh?" The blonde tilted her head and looked at her, not understanding a thing she said.

"Ba-ttle-me." Signum repeated.

Fate stood there, still not understanding what the stranger before her said.

Annoyed, the pinkette gritted her teeth to hold back her growl of frustration. Totally forgetting that her family had left her behind, she pulled the blonde back to the carpark.

Back at the carpark, she took off her light pink hoodie and hung it over a railing, revealing a black tank top, hugging her body tightly. She then gestured the blonde to do the same. Shyly, Fate followed and took off her cap and placed it beside the hoodie. The pinkette then walked over to the stage and stared at the machine where Hayate would do her thing. Knowing nothing at all about computers, music players or machines, Signum sighed, regretting not actually listening to her cousin when she rambled about mixers. Praying hard, she randomly pressed a few buttons, hoping something would be played and hopefully, nothing would break.

Fortunately, music came to life. She then turned to look at the blonde who seemed to be exploring, tracing the white rectangular line and then looked back at her as soon as the familiar beats entered her ears. Signum smiled at the young girl's alarmed look. It seemed like she had been dancing and had no idea what a battle was.

The older teenager then walked into the box and held a hand out towards Fate. "Signum Wolkenritter." She shouted over the music with an attempt of what she'd like to call an inviting smile.

Intimidated by the older, emotionless girl's sudden expression of… what seemed like a smile, Fate slowly stretched out her hand to shake her hand, "Fa-", which got slapped and then fisted.

"Fa-?" Signum asked.

"Fate. Fate Te-Te-sta…ross…a." There was an accent. She wasn't sure where this girl was from, but she definitely wasn't from Uminari. Still, Signum frowned in confusion. _Why did she seem unsure of her last name?_

She simply shrugged it off and started dancing. Fate seemed to understand the gesture, and started dancing as well, enjoying herself. After noticing the blonde was getting more and more comfortable, she started taunting the blonde, dissing her through her dance moves. Suddenly, burgundy eyes, which seemed terrified before, seemed filled with determination. There were no signs of fear in those pair of eyes anymore, but instead, passion and courage.

In a swift moment, the slightly shorter girl jumped up and snatched the cap off the other's head and placed it on herself. Fate then began with a couple of robot moves, then added in cap tricks. Before putting the cap back onto the taller girl, Fate threw the cap up and dropped almost literally to the floor and rolled from shoulder to shoulder, onto her hand under her stomach, before catching the falling cap with her free hand. Standing up, she returned the cap with a proud smile. Just as Signum reached out for the cap, the blonde then spun around with the cap on the latter's head, facing backwards. Fate smirked. _Trolled ya._

Fate then flipped herself to a handstand and hopped to the beat before landing on her head and spinning herself. When she was done, she stood up, dusted the cap and handed it over to the pinkette.

"_Thank you,"_ she said before she left. It wasn't in Japanese, but Signum understood those words.

It was the first time Signum got smoked, all she could do was stand there, stunned. Sure, she had moves that were better than that newcomer's, but it was the first time, she forgot what to do! Nobody had ever stood up to her in such a manner. Cold sweat trickled down her forehead.

_Testarossa, huh… That was pretty good…_ She grinned, finally satisfied with the piece of ruby she found. _Finally, a rival._

Though it wasn't exactly a battle, Signum knew it was one she would never forget.

* * *

Signum smirked at the memory of their first encounter. Just in time, Fate had finished her routine just as Signum was done reminiscing it was Yuuno's turn and the male dancer had no idea what to do. In his case, he wasn't stunned like Signum was, he literally had no comeback.

The crowd hollered, expecting him to make a move, but he didn't. The poor boy merely stood on his spot, cold sweat visibly making their way down his neck. Then he heard a whisper from behind.

"Psst, you know hip-hop? Any dance will do!" Hayate whispered to the hopeless rival, who nodded in acknowledgement of the brunette.

Determined not to back down, he walked over to Fate and started. He didn't know much about hip-hop, popping, locking nor breaking. At this point, he realized he stood no chance against the blonde before him, but he still had to try! He's a man, for pete's sake!

The crowd boo-ed at the young man's attempt. Some still cheered as it wasn't easy to go against the famous Lightning Reaper, but majority of them shouted profanity as the male shouldn't have provoked the former in the first place without knowing anything. Needless to say, the battle was over. The crowd left with their heads hung low, whispers and murmurs of disappointments.

As soon as the place was emptied, Fate walked over to Yuuno, who kneeled by the floor, disappointed by himself as well.

Noticing the girl's presence, Yuuno spoke up. "Happy now?" A hint of frustration was there. _How could he lose to such a low-classed dancer? A girl, too!_

Her face held no emotion, she didn't even turn to look at Yuuno and didn't speak. And that seemed to anger the green eyed geek further past his limits. Without thinking, he grabbed Fate by the collar and pulled her up into a standing position. This caused a slight worried glances from around. Hayate worriedly tried to stop them, but was stopped by Vita. With that protective little cousin of hers standing before her, telling her not to go near, she couldn't. Despite the unwelcomed looks and being shorter than the girl, Yuuno held his ground.

"Say something!" But Fate still didn't speak. Her eyes seemed to be staring into space, as if she was an empty doll, soul wandering somewhere.

The other brunette who stood behind Signum, however, noticed the dull red eyes the blonde was giving. It was the same look she got when she first met her dance. The same one she couldn't comprehend. _Is Fate-chan ok?_

Worried, she shoved Signum aside and rushed to the blonde. She didn't know whether the girl forgot her presence, wasn't expecting that, or simply allowed it, but it didn't matter. What mattered now was Fate-chan.

Slowly, somehow, Fate seemed to return to earth from wherever and was about to respond, "So you want to see who's better in ballet? I'm-" _up for it._ But was interrupted.

"Stop it already!" Nanoha forced herself between the two blondes and turned to face emerald eyes.

"But Nanoha, it wasn't even a fair fight. You know it!" Yuuno pleaded. "We're dancing ballet, and you got this… This… GIRL to be your partner? Why not me?!" The frustration in his voice was clear as day. He didn't even try to hide his distaste towards losing out to a girl. _One that knew nuts about art for that matter!_

"Oh yeah-" Fate was about to retort when a hand rose to cover hers.

"No, Yuuno and Fate. It wasn't a fair fight, but I chose Fate-chan because she's Fate-chan. It's not a matter of skills, nor a matter of gender. Fate has something I lacked to do well, therefore, no matter what you do, win or lose, she's going to be my partner no matter what."

Fate bit back her laugh. That felt so good. Having someone back her up especially when she was obviously in no mood to argue, felt wonderful. Having Nanoha stubbornly insisting on her being her partner felt fantastic. She felt a warm feeling churning in her stomach… It felt kind of scary at first, but it slowly settled down comfortably. It was like a huge load was lifted off her shoulders and she could finally breath without any worries. It had been so long since she had allowed herself do that. To relax. She felt… Secure?

A groan dragged her out of her reverie. "But still-!"

"Enough, Yuuno. Enough." Nanoha's voice was firm. Anyone could tell there was no more room for negotiation.

Despite the fearful tone, Fate felt her heart rose even further than it was. Without knowing, a sickening smile drew across her face. It wasn't the arrogant smile that said _Ha, I win. _Nor was it even a sad fake smile that said _I'm sorry. _It was an unfamiliar kind of smile.

It didn't go unnoticed, though. Hayate, at the corner, still behind Vita, recognized the blonde's relaxed look and giggled to herself, letting Fate find out and try to wipe that stupid grin off her face. Despite the attempts, Hayate burst out laughing even louder, which drew attention from the blue and green eyed arguers.

"What?" They asked together.

"Hayate-chan, can't you sense the atmosphere at all?" Nanoha asked with a sigh.

"Sorry, it was just that-" Before she could complete her sentence, she was choked by Fate.

"What?" Nanoha glared. No room for jokes this time…

Beads of perspiration rolled down the former two's foreheads. As Fate slowly let go, Hayate let out a forced chuckle, "Ah-ha-ha… N-n-nothing, princess."

As Nanoha turned back to Yuuno, the DJ whispered, "Don't think I didn't notice! You lovesick fool!" Causing the blonde to go red.

"Yuuno-kun. It's not that I don't like you, it's just that you're fine on your own. And dancing with me won't benefit you in any way, so I'd rather not burden you to try to make me appealing for the sponsors." She said with a sigh, exhausted by the morning already. "Fate-chan here is different. I need her." She tried to force a smile, tired trying to reason with the blonde now.

"That's right," Fate joined in, hooking a shoulder around the shorter brunette and forcing herself to smile for her newfound rival. "She needs me." She said with pride.

A little voice inside of her whispered, _Who needs you, Fate? Rival? What rival?_

The green eyed blonde looked at the two of them, and as if he resigned to his fate, "Alright…"


End file.
